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CHILDREN'S    RIGHTS 

A    BOOK    OF  NURSERY  LOGIC 

BY 

KATE   DOUGLAS  WIGGIN 


:  A  court  as  of  angels, 
A  public  not  to  be  bribed, 
Not  to  be  entreated, 
Not  to  be  overawed." 


BOSTON   AND    NEW   YORK 
HOUGHTOX,  MIFFLIN    AND   COMPANY 

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|  41   A    T    •*  " 

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Copyright,  1892, 
BY  KATE  DOUGLAS  WIGGIN. 

All  rights  reserved. 


FIFTH    THOUSAND. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S,  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  O.  Houghton  &  Compaay. 


PREFATORY   NOTE 


I  AM  indebted  to  the  Editors  of  Scribuer's 
Magazine,  the  Cosmopolitan,  and  Babyhood, 
for  permission  to  reprint  the  three  essays 
which  have  appeared  in  their  pages.  The 
others  are  published  for  the  first  time. 

It  may  be  well  to  ward  off  the  full  serious 
ness  of  my  title  "  Nursery  Logic  "  by  saying 
that  a  certain  informality  in  all  of  these 
papers  arises  from  the  fact  that  they  were 
originally  talks  given  before  members  of  so 
cieties  interested  in  the  training  of  children. 

Three  of  them  —  "  Children's  Stories," 
"  How  Shall  we  Govern  our  Children,"  and 
"  The  Magic  of  '  Together ' "  —  have  been 
written  for  this  book  by  my  sister,  Miss 
Nora  Smith. 

K.  D.  W. 

NEW  YORK,  August,  1892. 


CONTENTS 

FAGS 

THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  CHILD 1 

CHILDREN'S  PLAYS 25 

CHILDREN'S  PLAYTHINGS 47 

WHAT  SHALL  CHILDREN  READ  ?  .        .        .        .        69 
CHILDREN'S  STORIES.     Nora  A.  Smith.     .        .        .91 
THE  RELATION  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  TO  SOCIAL 
REFORM 107 

HOW   SHALL  WE    GOVERN    OUR   CHILDREN  ?      Nora 

A.  Smith  . 139 

THE  MAGIC  OF  "  TOGETHER."  Nora  A.  Smith  .  169 
THE  RELATION  OF  THE  KINDERGARTEN  TO  THE 

PUBLIC  SCHOOL 187 

OTHER  PEOPLE'S  CHILDREN  .  .  .  221 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  CHILD 

"  Give  me  liberty,  or  give  me  death !  " 


THE  RIGHTS  OF  THE  CHILD 

THE  subject  of  Children's  Rights  does 
not  provoke  much  sentimentalism  in  this 
country,  where,  as  somebody  says,  the  pres 
ent  problem  of  the  children  is  the  painless 
extinction  of  their  elders.  I  interviewed 
the  man  who  washes  my  windows,  the  other 
morning,  with  the  purpose  of  getting  at  the 
level  of  his  mind  in  the  matter. 

"  Dennis,"  I  said,  as  he  was  polishing 
the  glass,  "lam  writing  an  article  on  the 
'Rights  of  Children.'  What  do  you  think 
about  it  ?  "  Dennis  carried  his  forefinger  to 
his  head  in  search  of  an  idea,  for  he  is  not 
accustomed  to  having  his  intelligence  so 
violently  assaulted,  and  after  a  moment's 
puzzled  thought  he  said,  "  What  do  I  think 
about  it,  mum  ?  Why,  I  think  we  'd  ought  to 
give  'em  to  'em.  But  Lor',  mum,  if  we  don't, 
they  take  'em,  so  what  's  the  odds  ?  "  And 
as  he  left  the  room  I  thought  he  looked 
pained  that  I  should  spin  words  and  squander 
ink  on  such  a  topic. 


4  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

The  French  dressmaker  was  my  next  vic 
tim.  As  she  fitted  the  collar  of  an  effete 
civilization  on  my  nineteenth  century  neck,  I 
put  the  same  question  I  had  given  to  Den 
nis. 


The   rights   of    the-  child,   madame 


she  asked,  her  scissors  poised  in  air. 

"  Yes,  the  rights  of  the  child." 

"  Is  it  of  the  American  child,  madame  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  said  I  nervously,  "  of  the  Ameri 
can  child." 

"  Mon  Dieu  !  he  has  them  !  " 

This  may  well  lead  us  to  consider  rights 
as  opposed  to  privileges.  A  multitude  of 
privileges,  or  rather  indulgences,  can  exist 
with  a  total  disregard  of  the  child's  rights. 
You  remember  the  man  who  said  he  could 
do  without  necessities  if  you  would  give  him 
luxuries  enough.  The  child  might  say, 
"  I  will  forego  all  my  privileges,  if  you 
will  only  give  me  my  rights  :  a  little  less 
sentiment,  please,  —  more  justice !  "  There 
are  women  who  live  in  perfect  puddles  of 
maternal  love,  who  yet  seem  incapable  of 
justice  ;  generous  to  a  fault,  perhaps,  but 
seldom  just. 

Who  owns  the  child  ?  If  the  parent  owns 
him,  —  mind,  body,  and  soul,  we  must  adopt 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  5 

one  line  of  argument ;  if,  as  a  human  being, 
he  owns  himself,  we  must  adopt  another. 
In  ray  thought  the  parent  is  simply  a  divinely 
appointed  guardian,  who  acts  for  his  child 
until  he  attains  what  we  call  the  age  of  dis 
cretion,  —  that  highly  uncertain  period  which 
arrives  very  late  in  life  with  some  persons, 
and  not  at  all  with  others. 

The  rights  of  the  parent  being  almost  un 
limited,  it  is  a  very  delicate  matter  to  decide 
just  when  and  where  they  infringe  upon  the 
rights  of  the  child.  There  is  no  standard  ; 
the  child  is  the  creature  of  circumstances. 

The  mother  can  clothe  him  in  Jaeger  wool 

O 

from  head  to  foot,  or  keep  him  in  low  neck, 
short  sleeves  and  low  stockings,  because  she 
thinks  it  pretty  ;  she  can  feed  him  exclu 
sively  on  raw  beef,  or  on  vegetables,  or  on 
cereals  ;  she  can  give  him  milk  to  drink,  or 
let  him  sip  his  father's  beer  and  wine ;  put 
him  to  bed  at  sundown,  or  keep  him  up  till 
midnight ;  teach  him  the  catechism  and  the 
thirty-nine  articles,  or  tell  him  there  is  no 
God ;  she  can  cram  him  with  facts  before 
he  has  any  appetite  or  power  of  assimila 
tion,  or  she  can  make  a  fool  of  him.  She 
can  dose  him  with  old-school  remedies,  with 
new-school  remedies,  or  she  can  let  him  die 


6  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

without  remedies  because  she  does  n't  believe 
in  the  reality  of  disease.  She  is  quite  willing 
to  legislate  for  his  stomach,  his  mind,  his 
soul,  her  teachableness,  it  goes  without  say 
ing,  being  generally  in  inverse  proportion  to 
her  knowledge ;  for  the  arrogance  of  science 
11  humility  compared  with  the  pride  of  igno 
rance. 

In  these  matters  the  child  has  no  rights. 
The  only  safeguard  is  the  fact  that  if  par 
ents  are  absolutely  brutal,  society  steps  in, 
removes  the  untrustworthy  guardian,  and  ap 
points  another.  But  society  does  nothing, 
can  do  nothing,  with  the  parent  who  injures 
the  child's  soul,  breaks  his  will,  makes  him 
grow  up  a  liar  or  a  coward,  or  murders  his 
faith.  It  is  not  very  long  since  we  decided 
that  when  a  parent  brutally  abused  his 
child,  it  could  be  taken  from  him  and  made 
the  ward  of  the  state ;  the  Society  for  the 
Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Children  is  of  later 
date  than  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of 
Cruelty  to  Animals.  At  a  distance  of  a 
century  and  a  half  we  can  hardly  estimate 
how  powerful  a  blow  Rousseau  struck  for 
the  rights  of  the  child  in  his  educational 
romance,'"  Emile."  It  was  a  sort  of  gospel 
in  its  day.  Rousseau  once  arrested  and  ex- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  7 

iled,  his  book  burned  by  the  executioner  (a 
few  years  before  he  would  have  been  burned 
with  it),  his  ideas  naturally  became  a  craze. 
Many  of  the  reforms  for  which  he  pas 
sionately  pleaded  are  so  much  a  part  of  our 
modern  thought  that  we  do  not  realize  the 
fact  that  in  those  days  of  routine,  pedantry 
and  slavish  worship  of  authority,  they  were 
the  daring  dreams  of  an  enthusiast,  the 
seeming  impossible  prophecy  of  a  new  era. 
Aristocratic  mothers  were  converts  to  his 
theories,  and  began  nursing  their  children  as 
he  commanded  them.  Great  lords  began  to 
learn  handicrafts  ;  physical  exercise  came 
into  vogue  ;  everything  that  Emile  did,  other 
people  wanted  to  do. 

With  all  Rousseau's  vagaries,  oddities, 
misconceptions,  posings,  he  rescued  the  in 
dividuality  of  the  child  and  made  a  tremen 
dous  plea  for  a  more  natural,  a  more  hu 
man  education.  He  succeeded  in  making 
people  listen  where  Rabelais  and  Montaigne 
had  failed ;  and  he  inspired  other  teachers, 
notably  Pestalozzi  and  Froebel,  who  knit  up 
his  ragged  seams  of  theory,  and  translated 
his  dreams  into  possibilities. 

Rousseau  vindicated  to  man  the  right  of 
"  Being."  Pestalozzi  said  "  Grow !  "  Froe- 


8  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

bel,  the  greatest  of  the  three,  cried  "  Live  ! 
you  give  bread  to  men,  but  I  give  men  to 
themselves  !  " 

The  parent  whose  sole  answer  to  criticism 
or  remonstrance  is  "  I  have  a  right  to  do 
what  I  like  with  my  own  child !  "  is  the  only 
impossible  parent.  His  moral  integument 
is  too  thick  to  be  pierced  with  any  shaft 
however  keen.  To  him  we  can  only  say  as 
Jacques  did  to  Orlando,  "  God  be  with  you  ; 
let 's  meet  as  little  as  we  can." 

But  most  of  us  dare  not  take  this  ground. 
We  may  not  philosophize  or  formulate,  we 
may  not  live  up  to  our  theories,  but  we  feel 
in  greater  or  less  degree  the  responsibility  of 
calling  a  human  being  hither,  and  the  neces 
sity  of  guarding  and  guiding,  in  one  wray  or 
another,  that  which  owes  its  being  to  us. 

We  should  all  agree,  if  put  to  the  vote, 
that  a  child  has  a  right  to  be  well  born. 
That  was  a  trenchant  speech  of  Henry  Ward 
Beecher's  on  the  subject  of  being  "  born 
again ;  "  that  if  he  could  be  born  right  the 
first  time  he  'd  take  his  chances  on  the  sec 
ond.  "  Hereditary  rank,"  says  Washington 
Irving,  "  may  be  a  snare  and  a  delusion,  but 
hereditary  virtue  is  a  patent  of  innate  no 
bility  which  far  outshines  the  blazonry  of 
heraldry." 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  9 

Over  the  unborn  our  power  is  almost  that 
of  God,  and  our  responsibility,  like  His 
toward  us ;  as  we  acquit  ourselves  toward 
them,  so  let  Him  deal  with  us. 

Why  should  we  be  astonished  at  the 
warped,  cold,  unhappy,  suspicious  natures 
we  see  about  us,  when  we  reflect  upon  the 
number  of  unwished-for,  unwelcomed  chil 
dren  in  the  world  ;  —  children  who  at  best 
were  never  loved  until  they  were  seen  and 
known,  and  were  often  grudged  their  being 
from  the  moment  they  began  to  be.  I  wonder 
if  sometimes  a  starved,  crippled,  agonized 
human  body  and  soul  does  not  cry  out, 
u  Why,  O  man,  O  woman  —  why,  being 
what  I  am,  have  you  suffered  me  to  be  ?  " 

Physiologists  and  psychologists  agree  that 
the  influences  affecting  the  child  begin  be 
fore  birth.  At  what  hour  they  begin,  how 
far  they  can  be  controlled,  how  far  directed 
and  modified,  modern  science  is  not  assured  ; 
but  I  imagine  those  months  of  preparation 
were  given  for  other  reasons  than  that  the 
cradle  and  the  basket  and  the  wardrobe 
might  be  ready  ;  —  those  long  months  of  su 
preme  patience,  when  the  life-germ  is  grow 
ing  from  unconscious  to  conscious  being, 
and  when  a  host  of  mysterious  influences 


10  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

and  impulses  are  being  carried  silently  from 
mother  to  child.  And  if  "  beauty  born  of 
murmuring  sound  shall  pass  into  "  its  "  face," 
how  much  more  subtly  shall  the  grave 
strength  of  peace,  the  sunshine  of  hope  and 
sweet  content,  thrill  the  delicate  chords  of 
being,  and  warm  the  tender  seedling  into 
richer  life. 

Mrs.  Stoddard  speaks  of  that  sacred  pas 
sion,  maternal  love,  that  "  like  an  orange- 
tree,  buds  and  blossoms  and  bears  at  once." 
When  a  true  woman  puts  her  finger  for  the 
first  time  into  the  tiny  hand  of  her  baby, 
and  feels  that  helpless  clutch  which  tightens 
her  very  heart-strings,  she  is  born  again  with 
the  new-born  child. 

A  mother  has  a  sacred  claim  on  the  world ; 
even  if  that  claim  rest  solely  on  the  fact  of 
her  motherhood,  and  not,  alas,  on  any  other. 
Her  life  may  be  a  cipher,  but  when  the  child 
comes,  God  writes  a  figure  before  it,  and 
gives  it  value. 

Once  the  child  is  born,  one  of  his  in 
alienable  rights,  which  we  too  often  deny 
him,  is  the  right  to  his  childhood. 

If  we  could  only  keep  from  untwisting  the 
morning-glory,  only  be  willing  to  let  the 
sunshine  do  it !  Dickens  said  real  children 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  11 

went  out  with  powder  and  top-boots ;  and 
yet  the  children  of  Dickens's  time  were 
simple  buds  compared  with  the  full-blown 
miracles  of  conventionality  and  erudition  we 
raise  nowadays. 

There  is  no  substitute  for  a  genuine,  free, 
serene,  healthy,  bread-and-butter  childhood. 
A  fine  manhood  or  womanhood  can  be  built 
on  no  other  foundation  ;  and  yet  our  Ameri 
can  homes  are  so  often  filled  with  hurry  and 
worry,  our  manner  of  living  is  so  keyed  to 
concert  pitch,  our  plan  of  existence  so  com 
plicated,  that  we  drag  the  babies  along  in 
our  wake,  and  force  them  to  our  artificial 
standards,  forgetting  that  "  sweet  flowers  are 
slow,  and  weeds  make  haste." 

If  we  must,  or  fancy  that  we  must,  lead 
this  false,  too  feverish  life,  let  us  at  least 
spare  them !  By  keeping  them  forever  on 
tiptoe  we  are  in  danger  of  producing  an 
army  of  conventional  little  prigs,  who  know 
much  more  than  they  should  about  matters 
which  are  profitless  even  to  their  elders. 

In  the  matter  of  clothing,  we  sacrifice  chil 
dren  continually  to  the  "  Moloch  of  mater 
nal  vanity,"  as  if  the  demon  of  dress  did  not 
demand  our  attention,  sap  our  energy,  and 
thwart  our  activities  soon  enough^  at  best. 


12  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

And  the  right  kind  of  children,  before  they 
are  spoiled  by  fine  feathers,  do  detest  being 
"  dressed  up  "  beyond  a  certain  point. 

A  tiny  maid  of  my  acquaintance  has  an 
elaborate  Parisian  gown,  which  is  fastened 
on  the  side  from  top  to  bottom  in  some  mys 
terious  fashion,  by  a  multitude  of  tiny  but 
tons  and  cords.  It  fits  the  dear  little  mouse 
like  a  glove,  and  terminates  in  a  collar  which 
is  an  instrument  of  torture  to  a  person  whose 
patience  has  not  been  developed  from  year 
to  year  by  similar  trials.  The  getting  of  it 
on  is  anguish,  and  as  to  the  getting  of  it  off, 
I  heard  her  moan  to  her  nurse  the  other 
night,  as  she  wriggled  her  curly  head  through 
the  too-small  exit,  "  Oh !  only  God  knows 
how  I  hate  gettin'  peeled  out  o'  this  dress !  " 

The  spectacle  of  a  small  boy  whom  I  meet 
sometimes  in  the  horse-cars,  under  the  wing 
of  his  predestinate  idiot  of  a  mother,  wrings 
my  very  soul.  Silk  hat,  ruffled  shirt,  silver- 
buckled  shoes,  kid  gloves,  cane,  velvet  suit, 
with  one  two-inch  pocket  which  is  an  insult 
to  his  sex,  —  how  I  pity  the  pathetic  little 
caricature !  Not  a  spot  has  he  to  locate 
a  top,  or  a  marble,  or  a  nail,  or  a  string, 
or  a  knife,  or  a  cooky,  or  a  nut ;  but  as  a 
bloodless  substitute  for  these  necessities  of 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  13 

existence,  he  has  a  toy  watch  (that  will  not 
go)  and  an  embroidered  handkerchief  with 
cologne  on  it. 

As  to  keeping  children  too  clean  for  any 
mortal  use,  1  suppose  nothing  is  more  dis 
astrous.  The  divine  right  to  be  gloriously 
dirty  a  large  portion  of  the  time,  when  dirt 
is  a  necessary  consequence  of  direct,  useful, 
friendly  contact  with  all  sorts  of  interesting, 
helpful  things,  is  too  clear  to  be  denied. 

The  children  who  have  to  think  of  their 
clothes  before  playing  with  the  dogs,  dig 
ging  in  the  sand,  helping  the  stableman, 
working  in  the  shed,  building  a  bridge,  or 
weeding  the  garden,  never  get  half  their 
legitimate  enjoyment  out  of  life.  And  un 
happy  fate,  do  not  many  of  us  have  to  bring 
up  children  without  a  vestige  of  a  dog,  or 
a  sand  heap,  or  a  stable,  or  a  shed,  or  a 
brook,  or  a  garden  !  Conceive,  if  you  can, 
a  more  difficult  problem  than  giving  a  child 
his  rights  in  a  city  flat.  You  may  say  that 
neither  do  we  get  ours :  but  bad  as  we  are, 
we  are  always  good  enough  to  wish  for  our 
children  the  joys  we  miss  ourselves. 

Thrice  happy  is  the  country  child,  or  the 
one  who  can  spend  a  part  of  his  young  life 
among  living  things,  near  to  Nature's  heart. 


14  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

How  blessed  is  the  little  toddling  thing  who 
can  lie  flat  in  the  sunshine  and  drink  in  the 
beauty  of  the  "  green  things  growing,"  who 
can  live  among  the  other  little  animals,  his 
brothers  and  sisters  in  feathers  and  fur  ;  who 
can  put  his  hand  in  that  of  dear  mother  Na 
ture,  and  learn  his  first  baby  lessons  with 
out  any  meddlesome  middleman ;  who  is 
cradled  in  sweet  sounds  "  from  early  morn 
to  dewy  eve,"  lulled  to  his  morning  nap  by 
hum  of  crickets  and  bees,  and  to  his  night's 
slumber  by  the  sighing  of  the  wind,  the 
plash  of  waves,  or  the  ripple  of  a  river.  He 
is  a  part  of  the  "  shining  web  of  creation," 
learning  to  spell  out  the  universe  letter  by 
letter  as  he  grows  sweetly,  serenely,  into  a 
knowledge  of  its  laws. 

I  have  a  good  deal  of  sympathy  for  the 
little  people  during  their  first  eight  or  ten 
years,  when  they  are  just  beginning  to  learn 
life's  lessons,  and  when  the  laws  which  gov 
ern  them  must  often  seem  so  strange  and 
unjust.  It  is  not  an  occasion  for  a  big 
burning  sympathy,  perhaps,  but  for  a  tender 
little  one,  with  a  half  smile  in  it,  as  we 
think  of  what  we  were,  and  "  what  in  young 
clothes  we  hoped  to  be,  and  of  how  many 
things  have  come  across ; "  for  childhood 


CHIL  DREX  '  S  R I G 11 1  >  15 

is  an  eternal  promise  which  no  man  ever 
keeps. 

The  child  has  a  right  to  a  place  of  his 
own,  to  things  of  his  own,  to  surroundings 
which  have  some  relation  to  his  size,  his 
desires,  and  his  capabilities. 

How  should  we  like  to  live,  half  the  time, 
in  a  place  where  the  piano  was  twelve  feet 
tall,  the  door  knobs  at  an  impossible  height, 
and  the  mantel  shelf  in  the  sky ;  where  every 
mortal  thing  was  out  of  reach  except  a  col 
lection  of  highly  interesting  objects  on  dress 
ing-tables  and  bureaus,  guarded,  however, 
by  giants  and  giantesses,  three  times  as 
large  and  powerful  as  ourselves,  forever  say 
ing,  "  must  n't  touch  ;  "  and  if  we  did  touch 
we  should  be  spanked,  and  have  no  other 
method  of  revenge  save  to  spank  back  sym 
bolically  on  the  inoffensive  persons  of  our 
dolls? 

Things  in  general  are  so  disproportionate 
to  the  child's  stature,  so  far  from  his  organs 
of  prehension,  so  much  above  his  horizontal 
line  of  vision,  so  much  ampler  than  his  im 
mediate  surroundings,  that  there  is,  between 
him  and  all  these  big  things,  a  gap  to  be 
filled  only  by  a  microcosm  of  playthings 
which  give  him  his  first  object-lessons.  In 


16  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

proof  of  which  let  him  see  a  lady  richly 
dressed,  he  hardly  notices  her  ;  let  him  see 
a  doll  in  similar  attire,  he  will  be  ravished 
with  ecstasy.  As  if  to  show  that  it  was  the 
disproportion  of  the  sizes  which  unfitted 
him  to  notice  the  lady,  the  larger  he  grows 
the  bigger  he  wants  his  toys,  till,  when  his 
wish  reaches  to  life-sizes,  good-by  to  the 
trumpery,  and  onward  with  realities.1 

My  little  nephew  was  prowling  about  my 
sitting-room  during  the  absence  of  his  nurse. 
I  was  busy  writing,  r,nd  when  he  took  up 
a  delicate  pearl  opera -glass,  I  stopped  his 
investigations  with  the  time-honored,  "  No, 
no,  dear,  that 's  for  grown-up  people." 

"Hasn't  it  got  any  little-boy  end?"  he 
asked  wistfully. 

That  "little-boy  end"  to  things  is  some 
times  just  what  we  fail  to  give,  even  when 
we  think  we  are  straining  every  nerve  to 
surround  the  child  with  pleasures.  For  chil 
dren  really  want  to  do  the  very  same  things 
that  we  want  to  do,  and  yet  have  constantly 
to  be  thwarted  for  their  own  good.  They 
would  like  to  share  all  our  pleasures ;  keep 
the  same  hours,  eat  the  same  food  ;  but  they 
are  met  on  every  side  with  the  seemingly 

1  E.  Segnin. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  17 

impertinent  piece  of  dogmatism,  "  It  is  n't 
good  for  little  boys,"  or  "  It  is  n't  nice  for 
little  girls." 

Robert  Louis  Stevenson  shows,  in  his 
"  Child's  Garden  of  Verses,"  that  he  is  one 
of  the  very  few  people  who  remember  and 
appreciate  this  phase  of  childhood.  Could 
anything  be  more  deliciously  real  than  these 
verses  ? 

"  In  winter  I  get  up  at  night, 
And  dress  by  yellow  candle  light : 
In  summer,  quite  the  other  way, 
I  have  to  go  to  bed  by  day ; 
I  have  to  go  to  bed  and  see 
The  birds  still  hopping  on  the  tree, 
And  hear  the  grown-up  people's  feet 
Still  going  past  me  on  the  street. 
And  does  it  not  seem  hard  to  you, 
That  when  the  sky  is  clear  and  blue, 
And  I  should  like  so  much  to  play, 
I  have  to  go  to  bed  by  day  ?  " 

Mr.  Hopkinson  Smith  has  written  a  witty 
little  monograph  on  this  relation  of  parents 
and  children.  I  am  glad  to  say,  too,  that  it 
is  addressed  to  fathers,  —  that  "  left  wing  " 
of  the  family  guard,  which  generally  manages 
to  retreat  during  any  active  engagement, 
leaving  the  command  to  the  inferior  officer,  r 
This  "  left  wing  "  is  imposing  on  all  full- 
dress  parades,  but  when  there  is  any  fight- 


18  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

ing  to  be  done  it  retires  rapidly  to  the  rear, 
and  only  wheels  into  line  when  the  smoke 
of  the  conflict  has  passed  out  of  the  atmos 
phere. 

"  Open  your  heart  and  your  arms  wide 
for  your  daughters,"  he  says,  "  and  keep 
them  wide  open  ;  don't  leave  all  that  to  their 
mothers.  An  intimacy  will  grow  with  the 
years  which  will  fit  them  for  another  man's 
arms  and  heart  when  they  exchange  yours 
for  his.  Make  a  chum  of  your  boy,  —  hail- 
fellow-well-met,  a  comrade.  Get  down  to 
the  level  of  his  boyhood,  and  bring  him 
gradually  up  to  the  level  of  your  manhood. 
Don't  look  at  him  from  the  second  story 
window  of  your  fatherly  superiority  and  ex 
ample.  Go  into  the  front  yard  and  play 
ball  with  him.  When  he  gets  into  scrapes, 
don't  thrash  him  as  your  father  did  you. 
Put  your  arm  around  his  neck,  and  say  you 
know  it  is  pretty  bad,  but  that  he  can  count 
on  you  to  help  him  out,  and  that  you  will, 
every  single  time,  and  that  if  lie  had  let  you 
know  earlier,  it  would  have  been  all  the 
easier." 

Again,  the  child  has  a  right  to  more  jus 
tice  in  his  discipline  than  we  are  generally 
wise  and  patient  enough  to  give  him.  He 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  19 

is  by  and  by  to  come  in  contact  with  a 
world  where  cause  and  effect  follow  each 
other  inexorably.  lie  has  a  right  to  be 
taught,  and  to  be  governed  by  the  laws  un 
der  which  he  must  afterwards  live  ;  but  in 
too  many  cases  parents  interfere  so  mischie 
vously  and  unnecessarily  between  causes  and 
effects  that  the  child's  mind  does  not,  can 
not,  perceive  the  logic  of  things  as  it  should. 
We  might  write  a  pathetic  remonstrance 
against  the  Decline  and  Fall  of  Domestic 
Authority.  There  is  food  for  thought,  and 
perhaps  for  fear,  in  the  subject ;  but  the  facts 
are  obvious,  and  their  inevitableness  must 
strike  any  thoughtful  observer  of  the  times. 
"The  old  educational  regime  was  akin  to 
the  social  systems  with  which  it  was  con 
temporaneous  ;  and  similarly,  in  the  reverse 
of  these  characteristics,  our  modern  modes 
of  culture  correspond  to  our  more  liberal 
religious  and  political  institutions." 

It  is  the  age  of  independent  criticism. 
The  child  problem  is  merely  one  phase  of 
the  universal  problem  that  confronts  society. 
It  seems  likely  that  the  rod  of  reason  will 
have  to  replace  the  rod  of  birch.  Parental 
authority  never  used  to  be  called  into  ques 
tion  ;  neither  was  the  catechism,  nor  the 


20  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

Bible,  nor  the  minister.  How  should  parents 
hope  to  escape  the  universal  interrogation 
point  leveled  at  everything  else  ?  In  these 
days  of  free  speech  it  is  hopeless  to  suppose 
that  even  infants  can  be  muzzled.  We  revel 
in  our  republican  virtues  ;  let  us  accept  the 
vices  of  those  virtues  as  philosophically  as 
possible. 

A  lady  has  been  advertising  in  a  New 
York  paper  for  a  German  governess  "to 
mind  a  little  girl  three  years  old."  The 
lady's  English  is  doubtless  defective,  but 
the  fate  of  the  governess  is  thereby  indicated 
with  much  greater  candor  than  is  usual. 

The  mother  who  is  most  apt  to  infringe 
on  the  rights  of  her  child  (of  course  with 
the  best  intentions)  is  the  "  firm  "  person, 
afflicted  with  the  "  lust  of  dominion."  There 
is  no  elasticity  in  her  firmness  to  prevent  it 
from  degenerating  into  obstinacy.  It  is  not 
the  firmness  of  the  tree  that  bends  without 
breaking,  but  the  firmness  of  a  certain  long- 
eared  animal  whose  force  of  character  has 
impressed  itself  on  the  common  mind  and 
become  proverbial. 

Jean  Paul  says  if  "  Pas  trop  gouverner  " 
is  the  best  rule  in  politics,  it  is  equally  true 
of  discipline. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  21 

But  if  the  child  is  unhappy  who  has  none 
of  his  rights  respected,  equally  wretched  is 
the  little  despot  who  has  more  than  his  own 
rights,  who  has  never  been  taught  to  respect 
the  rights  of  others,  and  whose  only  concep 
tion  of  the  universe  is  that  of  an  absolute 
monarchy  in  which  he  is  sole  ruler. 

44  Children  rarely  love  those  who  spoil 
them,  and  never  trust  them.  Their  keen 
young  sense  detects  the  false  note  in  the 
character  and  draws  its  own  conclusions, 
which  are  generally  very  just." 

The  very  best  theoretical  statement  of 
a  wise  disciplinary  method  that  I  know  is 
Herbert  Spencer's.  4'  Let  the  history  of  \ 
your  domestic  rule  typify,  in  little,  the  his 
tory  of  our  political  rule ;  at  the  outset, 
autocratic  control,  where  control  is  really 
needful  ;  by  and  by  an  incipient  constitu 
tionalism,  in  which  the  liberty  of  the  subject 
gains  some  express  recognition ;  successive 
extensions  of  this  liberty  of  the  subject ; 
gradually  ending  in  parental  abdication." 

We  must  not  expect  children  to  be  too 
good  ;  not  any  better  than  we  ourselves,  for 
example  ;  no,  nor  even  as  good.  Beware 
of  hothouse  virtue.  4'  Already  most  people 
recognize  the  detrimental  results  of  intel- 


22  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

lecttial  precocity ;  but  there  remains  to  be 
recognized  the  truth  that  there  is  a  moral 
precocity  which  is  also  detrimental.  Our 
higher  moral  faculties,  like  our  higher  in 
tellectual  ones,  are  comparatively  complex. 
By  consequence,  they  are  both  comparatively 
late  in  their  evolution.  And  with  the  one 
as  with  the  other,  a  very  early  activity  pro 
duced  by  stimulation  will  be  at  the  expense 
of  the  future  character." 

In  these  matters  the  child  has  a  right  to 
expect  examples.  He  lives  in  the  senses ; 
he  can  only  learn  through  object  lessons, 
can  only  pass  from  the  concrete  example  of 
goodness  to  a  vision  of  abstract  perfection. 

"  O'er  wayward  childhood  wouldst  thou  hold  firm  rule, 
And  sun  thee  in  the  light  of  happy  faces  ? 
Love,  Hope  and  Patience,  these  must  be  thy  graces, 
And  in  thine  own  heart  let  them  first  keep  school." 

Yes,  "in  thine  own  heart  let  them  first 
keep  school !  "  I  cannot  see  why  Max 
CTRell  should  have  exclaimed  with  such 
unction  that  if  he  were  to  be  born  over 
again  he  would  choose  to  be  an  American 
woman.  He  has  never  tried  being  one. 
'  He  does  not  realize  that  she  not  only  has 
in  hand  the  emancipation  of  the  American 
woman,  but  the  reformation  of  the  Ameri- 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  23 

can  man  and  the  education  of  the  American 
child.  If  that  triangular  mission  in  life 
does  not  keep  her  out  of  mischief  and  make 
her  the  angel  of  the  twentieth  century,  she 
is  a  hopeless  case.  ) 

Spencer  says,  "  It  is  a  truth  yet  remain 
ing  to  be  recognized  that  the  last  stage  in 
the  mental  development  of  each  man  and 
woman  is  to  be  reached  only  through  the 
proper  discharge  of  the  parental  duties. 
And  when  this  truth  is  recognized,  it  will  be 
seen  how  admirable  is  the  ordination  in  vir 
tue  of  which  human  beings  are  led  by  their 
strongest  affections  to  subject  themselves  to 
a  discipline  which  they  would  else  elude." 

Women  have  been  fighting  many  battles 
for  the  higher  education  these  last  few  years  ; 
and  they  have  nearly  gained  the  day.  When 
at  last  complete  victory  shall  perch  upon 
their  banners,  let  them  make  one  more 
struggle,  and  that  for  the  highest  educa 
tion,  which  shall  include  a  specific  training 
for  parenthood,  a  subject  thus  far  quite 
omitted  from  the  curriculum. 

The  mistaken  idea  that  instinct  is  a  suf 
ficient  guide  in  so  delicate  and  sacred  and 
vital  a  matter,  the  comfortable  superstition 
that  babies  bring  their  own  directions  with 


24  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

them,  —  these  fictions  have  existed  long 
enough.  If  a  girl  asks  me  why,  since  the 
function  of  parenthood  is  so  uncertain, 
she  should  make  the  sacrifices  necessary  to 
such  training,  sacrifices  entailed  by  this 
highest  education  of  body,  mind,  and  spirit, 
I  can  only  say  that  it  is  better  to  be  ready, 
even  if  one  is  not  called  for,  than  to  be  called 
for  and  found  wanting. 


CHILDREN'S    PLAYS 

"  The  plaj-s  of  the  age  are  the  heart-leaves  of  the 
whole  future  life,  for  the  whole  man  is  visible  in  them  in 
his  finest  capacities  and  his  innermost  being." 


CHILDREN'S  PLAYS 

MR.  W.  W.  NEWELL,  in  his  admirable 
book  on  "  Children's  Games,"  traces  to  their 
proper  source  all  the  familiar  plays  which 
in  one  form  or  another  have  been  handed 
down  from  generation  to  generation,  and  are 
still  played  wherever  and  whenever  children 
come  together  in  any  numbers.  The  result 
of  his  sympathetic  and  scholarly  investiga 
tions  is  most  interesting  to  the  student  of 
childhood,  and  as  valuable  philologically  as 
historically.  In  speaking  of  the  old  rounds 
and  rhymed  formulas  which  have  preserved 
their  vitality  under  the  effacing*  hand  of 
Time,  he  says,  — 

"  It  will  be  obvious  that  many  of  these 
well-known  game-rhymes  were  not  composed 
by  children.  They  were  formerly  played, 
as  in  many  countries  they  are  still  played, 
by  young  persons  of  marriageable  age,  or 
even  by  mature  men  and  women.  .  .  .  The 
truth  is,  that  in  past  centuries  all  the  world, 
judged  by  our  present  standard,  seems  to 


28  CHILDREN'S  RIGHT* 

have  been  a  little  childish.  The  maids  of 
honor  of  Queen  Elizabeth's  day,  if  we  may 
credit  the  poets,  were  devoted  to  the  game 
of  tag,  with  which  even  Diana  and  her 
nymphs  were  supposed  to  amuse  them 
selves.  .  .  . 

"  We  need  not,  however,  go  to  remote  times 
or  lands  for  illustration  which  is  supplied 
by  New  England  country  towns  of  a  genera 
tion  ago.  Dancing,  under  that  name,  was 
little  practiced ;  the  amusement  of  young 
people  at  their  gatherings  was  "  playing 
games."  These  games  generally  resulted  in 
forfeits,  to  be  redeemed  by  kissing,  in  every 
possible  variety  of  position  and  method. 
Many  of  these  games  were  rounds ;  but  as 
they  were  not  called  dances,  and  as  man 
kind  pays  more  attention  to  words  than 
things,  the  religious  conscience  of  the  com 
munity,  which  objected  to  dancing,  took  no 
alarm.  .  .  .  Such  were  the  pleasures  of 
young  men  and  women  from  sixteen  to 
twenty-five  years  of  age.  Nor  were  the  par 
ticipants  mere  rustics  ;  many  of  them  could 
boast  good  blood,  as  careful  breeding, 
and  as  much  intelligence,  as  any  in  the 
land.  Neither  was  the  morality  or  sensi 
tiveness  of  the  young  women  of  that  day 


CHILDREN'S    RIGHTS  29 

in  any  respect  inferior  to  what  it  is  at 
present. 

"  Now  that  our  country  towns  are  become 
mere  outlying  suburbs  of  cities,  these  re 
marks  may  be  read  with  a  smile  at  the  rude 
simplicity  of  old-fashioned  American  life. 
But  the  laugh  should  be  directed,  not  at 
our  own  country,  but  at  the  bygone  age. 
It  must  be  remembered  that  in  mediaeval 
Europe,  and  in  England  till  the  end  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  a  kiss  was  the  usual 
salutation  of  a  lady  to  a  gentleman  whom 
she  wished  to  honor.  .  .  .  The  Portuguese 
ladies  who  came  to  England  with  the  In 
fanta  in  16G2  were  not  used  to  the  custom  ; 
but,  as  Pepys  says,  in  ten  days  they  had 
'learnt  to  kiss  and  look  freely  up  and 
down.'  Kissing  in  games  was,  therefore,  a 
matter  of  course,  in  all  ranks.  .  .  . 

"  In  respectable  and  cultivated  French  so 
ciety,  at  the  time  of  which  we  speak,  the 
amusements,  not  merely  of  young  people 
but  of  their  elders  as  well,  were  every  whit 
as  crude. 

"  Madame  Celnart,  a  recognized  a^  hority 
on  etiquette,  compiled  in  1830  a  very  curi 
ous  complete  manual  of  society  games  rec 
ommending  them  as  recreation  for  business 


30  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

men.  .  .  .  4  Their  varying  movement,'  she 
says,  '  their  diversity,  the  gracious  and  gay 
ideas  which  these  games  inspire,  the  deco 
rous  caresses  which  they  permit,  all  this 
combines  to  give  real  amusement.  These 
caresses  can  alarm  neither  modesty  nor  pru 
dence,  since  a  kiss  in  honor  given  and  taken 
before  numerous  witnesses  is  often  an  act  of 
propriety.'  ' 

The  old  ballads  and  nursery  rhymes 
doubtless  had  much  of  innocence  and  fresh 
ness  in  them,  but  they  only  come  to  us  now 
adays  tainted  by  the  odors  of  city  streets. 
The  pleasure  and  poetry  of  the  original  es 
sence  are  gone,  and  vulgarity  reigns  trium 
phant.  If  you  listen  to  the  words  of  the 
games  which  children  play  in  school  yards, 
on  sidewalks,  and  in  the  streets  on  pleasant 
evenings,  you  will  find  that  most  of  them,  to 
say  the  least,  border  closely  on  vulgarity ; 
that  they  are  utterly  unsuitable  to  child 
hood,  notwithstanding  that  they  are  played 
with  great  glee  ;  that  they  are,  in  fine,  com 
mon,  rude,  silly,  and  boorish.  One  can  never 
watch  a  circle  of  children  going  through 
the  vulgar  inanities  of  "  Jenny  O' Jones," 
"  Say,  daughter,  will  you  get  up  ?  "  "  Green 
Gravel,"  or  "  Here  come  two  ducks  a-rov- 


CIIILDREN'S  RIGHTS  31 

ing,"  without  unspeakable  shrinking  and 
moral  disgust.  These  plays  are  dying  out ; 
let  them  die,  for  there  is  a  hint  of  happier 
things  abroad  in  the  air. 

The  wisest  mind  of  wise  antiquity  told 
the  riddle  of  the  Sphinx,  if  having  ears  to 
hear  we  would  hear.  "  Our  youth  should  be 
educated  in  a  stricter  rule  from  the  first,  for 
if  education  becomes  lawless  and  the  youths 
themselves  become  lawless,  they  can  never 
grow  up  into  well-conducted  or  meritorious 
citizens  ;  and  the  education  must  begin  with, 
their  plays" 

We  talk  a  great  deal  about  the  strength 
of  early  impressions.  I  wonder  if  we  mean 
all  we  say  ;  we  do  not  live  up  to  it>  at  all 
events.  "  In  childish  play  deep  meaning 
lies."  "  The  hand  that  rocks  the  cradle  is 
the  hand  that  rules  the  world."  "  Give  me 
the  first  six  years  of  a  child's  life,  and  I 
care  not  who  has  the  rest."  "  The  child  of 
six  years  has  learned  already  far  more  than 
a  student  learns  in  his  entire  university 
course."  "  The  first  six  years  are  as  full  of 
advancement  as  the  six  days  of  creation,"  and 
so  on.  If  we  did  believe  these  things  fully, 
we  should  begin  education  with  conscious 
intelligence  at  the  cradle,  if  not  earlier. 


32  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

The  great  German  dramatic  critic,  Schle- 
gel,  once  sneered  at  the  brothers  Jacob  and 
William  Grimm,  for  what  he  styled  their 
"meditation  on  the  insignificant."  These 
two  brothers,  says  a  wiser  student,  an  his 
torian  of  German  literature,  were  animated 
by  a  "  pathetic  optimism,  and  possessed  that 
sober  imagination  which  delights  in  small 
things  and  narrow  interests,  lingering  over 
them  with  strong  affection."  They  ex 
plored  villages  and  hamlets  for  obscure 
legends  and  folk  tales,  for  nursery  songs, 
even  ;  and  bringing  to  bear  on  such  things 
at  once  a  human  affection  and  a  wise  schol 
arship,  their  meditation  on  the  insignificant 
became  the  basis  of  their  scientific  great 
ness  and  the  source  of  their  popularity. 
Every  child  has  read  some  of  Grimm's 
household  tales,  "  The  Frog  Prince,"  "  Hans 
in  Luck,"  or  the  "  Two  Brothers;"  but 
comparatively  few  people  realize,  perhaps, 
that  this  collection  of  stories  is  the  foun 
dation  of  the  modern  science  of  folk-lore, 
and  a  by-play  in  researches  of  philology 
and  history  which  place  the  name  of  Grimm 
among  the  benefactors  of  our  race.  I  refer 
to  these  brothers  because  they  expressed  one 
of  the  leading  theories  of  the  new  education. 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  33 

"  My  principle,"  said  Jacob  Grimm,  "  has 
been  to  undervalue  nothing,  but  to  utilize 
the  small  for  the  illustration  of  the  great." 
When  Friedrich  Froebel,  the  founder  of  the 
kindergarten,  in  the  course  of  his  researches 
began  to  watch  the  plays  of  children  and  to 
study  their  unconscious  actions,  his  "  medita 
tion  on  the  insignificant "  became  the  basis 
of  scientific  greatness,  and  of  an  influence 
still  in  its  infancy,  but  destined,  perhaps,  to 
revolutionize  the  whole  educational  method 
of  society. 

It  was  while  he  was  looking  on  with  de 
light  at  the  plays  of  little  children,  their 
happy,  busy  plans  and  make-believes,  their 
intense  interest  in  outward  nature,  and  in 
putting  things  together  or  taking  them 
apart,  that  Froebel  said  to  himself  :  "  What 
if  we  could  give  the  child  that  which  is 
called  education  through  his  voluntary  ac 
tivities,  and  have  him  always  as  eager  as 
he  is  at  play?" 

How  well  I  remember,  years  ago,  the  first 
time  I  ever  joined  in  a  kindergarten  game. 
I  was  beckoned  to  the  charming  circle,  and 
not  only  one,  but  a  dozen  openings  were 
made  for  me,  and  immediately,  though  I 
was  a  stranger,  a  little  hand  on  either  side 


34  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

was  put  into  mine,  with  such  friendly,  trust 
ing  pressure  that  I  felt  quite  at  home. 
Then  we  began  to  sing  of  the  spring-time, 
and  I  found  myself  a  green  tree  waving 
its  branches  in  the  wind.  I  was  frightened 
and  self-conscious,  but  I  did  it,  and  nobody 
seemed  to  notice  me ;  then  I  was  a  flower 
opening  its  petals  in  the  sunshine,  and  pres 
ently,  a  swallow  gathering  straws  for  nest- 
building  ;  then,  carried  away  by  the  spirit  of 
the  kindergartner  and  her  children,  I  flut 
tered  my  clumsy  apologies  for  wings,  and 
forgetting  self,  flew  about  with  all  the  others, 
as  happy  as  a  bird.  Soon  I  found  that  I, 
the  stranger,  had  been  chosen  for  the 
"mother  swallow."  It  was  to  me,  the  girl 
of  eighteen,  like  mounting  a  throne  and 
being  crowned.  Four  cunning  curly  heads 
cuddled  under  my  wings  for  protection  and 
slumber,  and  I  saw  that  I  was  expected  to 
stoop  and  brood  them,  which  I  did,  with  a 
feeling  of  tenderness  and  responsibility  that 
I  had  never  experienced  in  my  life  before. 
Then,  when  I  followed  my  baby  swallows 
back  to  their  seats,  I  saw  that  the  play  had 
broken  down  every  barrier  between  us,  and 
that  they  clustered  about  me  as  confidingly 
as  if  we  were  old  friends.  I  think  I  never 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  35 

before  felt  my  own  limitations  so  keenly,  or 
desired  so  strongly  to  be  fully  worthy  of  a 
child's  trust  and  love. 

Kindergarten  play  takes  the  children  where 
they  love  to  be,  into  the  world  of  "  make-be 
lieve."  In  this  lovely  world  the  children  are 
blacksmiths,  carpenters,  wheelwrights ;  birds, 
bees,  butterflies ;  trees,  flowers,  sunbeams, 
rainbows ;  frogs,  lambs,  ponies,  —  anything 
they  like.  The  play  is  so  characteristic, 
so  poetic,  so  profoundly  touching  in  its  sim 
plicity  and  purity,  so  full  of  meaning,  that 
it  would  inspire  us  with  admiration  and 
respect  were  it  the  only  salient  point  of 
Froebel's  educational  idea.  It  endeavors  to 
express  the  same  idea  in  poetic  words,  har 
monious  melody  and  fitting  motion,  appeal 
ing  thus  to  the  thought,  feeling,  and  activity 
of  the  child. 

Physical  impressions  are  at  the  beginning 
of  life  the  only  possible  medium  for  awaken 
ing  the  child's  sensibility.  These  impressions 
should  therefore  be  regulated  as  systemati 
cally  as  possible,  and  not  left  to  chance. 

Froebel  supplies  the  means  for  bringing 
about  the  result  in  a  simple  system  of  sym 
bolic  songs  and  games,  appealing  to  the 
child's  activities  and  sensibilities.  These, 


36  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

he  argues,  ought  to  contain  the  germ  of  all 
later  instruction  and  thought ;  for  physical 
and  sensuous  perceptions  are  the  points  of 
departure  of  all  knowledge. 

When  the  child  imitates,  he  begins  to  un 
derstand.  Let  him  imitate  the  airy  flight 
of  the  bird,  and  he  enters  partially  into  bird 
life.  Let  the  little  girl  personate  the  hen 
with  her  feathery  brood  of  chickens,  and  her 
own  maternal  instinct  is  quickened,  as  she 
guards  and  guides  the  wayward  motion  of 
the  little  flock.  Let  the  child  play  the  car 
penter,  the  wheelwright,  the  wood-sawyer, 
the  farmer,  and  his  intelligence  is  imme 
diately  awakened  ;  he  will  see  the  force,  the 
meaning,  the  power,  and  the  need  of  labor. 
In  short,  let  him  mirror  in  his  play  all  the 
different  aspects  of  universal  life,  and  his 
thought  will  begin  to  grasp  their  significance. 

Thus  kindergarten  play  may  be  defined 
as  a  u  systematized  sequence  of  experiences 
through  which  the  child  grows  into  self- 
knowledge,  clear  observation,  and  conscious 
perception  of  the  whole  circle  of  relation 
ships,"  and  the  symbols  of  his  play  become 
at  length  the  truth  itself,  bound  fast  and 
deep  in  heart  knowledge,  which  is  deeper 
and  rarer  than  head  knowledge,  after  all. 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  37 

To  the  class  occupied  exclusively  with 
material  things,  this  phase  of  Froebel's  idea 
may  perhaps  seem  mystical.  There  is  no 
thing  mystical  to  children,  however;  all  is 
real,  for  their  visions  have  not  been  dis 
pelled. 

"  Turn  wheresoever  I  may, 

By  night  or  day, 
The  things  which  I  have  seen,  I  now  can  see  no  more." 

As  soon  as  the  child  begins  to  be  conscious 
of  his  own  activities  and  his  power  of  regu 
lating  them,  he  desires  to  imitate  the  actions 
of  his  future  life. 

Nothing  so  delights  the  little  girl  as  to 
play  at  housekeeping  in  her  tiny  mansion, 
sacred  to  the  use  of  dolls.  See  her  whim 
sical  attention  to  dust  and  dirt,  her  tre 
mendous  wisdom  in  dispensing  the  work  and 
ordering  the  duties  of  the  household,  her 
careful  attention  to  the  morals  and  manners 
of  her  rag-babies. 

The  boy,  too,  tries  to  share  in  the  life  of  a 
man,  to  play  at  his  father's  work,  to  be  a 
miniature  carpenter,  salesman,  or  what  not. 
He  rides  his  father's  cane  and  calls  it  a 
horse,  in  the  same  way  that  the  little  girl 
wraps  a  shawl  about  a  towel,  and  showers 
upon  it  the  tenderest  tokens  of  maternal 


38  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

affection.  All  these  examples  go  to  show 
that  every  conscious  intellectual  phase  of  the 
mind  has  a  previous  phase  in  which  it  was 
unconscious  or  merely  symbolic. 

To  get  at  the  spirit  and  inspiration  of  sym 
bolic  representation  in  song  and  game,  it 
is  necessary  first  of  all  to  study  Froebel's 
"Mutter  und  Kose-Lieder,"  perhaps  the 
most  strikingly  original,  instructive,  ser 
viceable  book  in  the  whole  history  of  the 
practice  of  education.  The  significant  re 
mark  quoted  in  Froebel's  "  Reminiscences  " 
is  this  :  "  He  who  understands  what  I  mean 
by  these  songs  knows  my  inmost  secret." 
You  will  find  people  who  say  the  music  in 
the  book  is  poor,  which  is  largely  true,  and 
that  the  versification  is  weak,  which  is  often, 
not  always,  true,  and  is  sometimes  to  be  at 
tributed  to  faulty  translation ;  but  the  idea, 
the  spirit,  the  continuity  of  the  plan,  are 
matchless,  and  critics  who  call  it  trifling  or 
silly  are  those  who  have  not  the  seeing  eye 
nor  the  understanding  heart. 

Froebel's  wife  said  of  it,  — 

"  A  superficial  mind  does  not  grasp  it, 
A  gentle  mind  does  not  hate  it, 
A  coarse  mind  makes  fun  of  it, 
A  thoughtful  mind  alone  tries  to  get  at  it" 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  39 

"  Froebel l  considers  it  his  duty  to  picture 
the  home  as  it  ought  to  be,  not  by  writing 
a  book  of  theories  and  of  rules  which  are 
easily  forgotten,  but  by  accompanying  a 
mother  in  her  daily  rounds  through  house, 
garden,  and  field,  and  by  following  her  to 
workshop,  market,  and  church.  He  does 
not  represent  a  woman  of  fashion,  but  pre 
fers  one  of  humbler  station,  whom  he  clothes 
in  the  old  German  housewife  style.  It  may 
be  a  small  sphere  she  occupies,  but  there 
she  is  the  centre,  and  she  completely  fills 
her  place.  She  rejoices  in  the  dignity  of 
her  position  as  educator  of  a  human  being 
whom  she  has  to  bring  into  harmony  with 
God,  nature,  and  man.  She  thinks  nothing 
too  trifling  that  concerns  her  child.  She 
watches,  clothes,  feeds,  and  trains  it  in  good 
habits,  and  when  her  darling  is  asleep,  her 
prayers  finish  the  day.  She  may  not  have 
read  much  about  education,  but  her  sympa 
thy  with  the  child  suggests  means  of  doing 
her  duty.  Love  has  made  her  inventive  ; 
she  discovers  means  of  amusement,  for  play ; 
she  talks  and  sings,  sometimes  in  poetry  and 
sometimes  in  prose.  From  mothers  in  his 
circle  of  relations  and  friends,  Froebel  has 

1  Eleonore  Heerwart. 


40  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

learned  what  a  mother  can  do,  and  although 
he  had  no  children  of  his  own,  his  heart 
vibrated  instinctively  with  the  feelings  of  a 
mother's  joy,  hope,  and  fear.  He  did  not 
care  about  the  scorn  of  others,  when  he  felt 
he  must  speak  with  an  almost  womanly 
heart  to  a  mother.  His  own  loss  of  a  mo 
ther's  tender  care  made  him  the  more  ap 
preciate  the  importance  of  a  mother's  love 
in  early  infancy.  The  mother  in  his  book 
makes  use  of  all  the  impressions,  influences, 
and  agencies  with  which  the  child  comes  in 
contact :  she  protects  from  evil ;  she  stimu 
lates  for  good;  she  places  the  child  in  direct 
communication  with  nature,  because  she  her 
self  admires  its  beauties.  She  has  a  right 
feeling  towards  her  neighbors,  and  to  all 
those  on  whom  she  depends.  A  movement 
of  arms  and  feet  teaches  her  that  the  child 
feels  its  strength  and  wants  to  use  it.  She 
helps,  she  lifts,  she  teaches  ;  and  while  play 
ing  with  her  baby's  hands  and  feet  she  is 
never  at  a  loss  for  a  song  or  story. 

"  The  mother  also  knows  that  it  is  neces 
sary  to  train  the  senses,  because  they  are 
the  active  organs  which  convey  food  to  the 
intellect.  The  ear  must  hear  language,  mu 
sic,  the  gentle  accents  and  warning  voices 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  41 

of  father  and  mother.  It  must  distinguish 
the  sounds  of  the  wind,  of  the  water,  and  of 
pet  animals. 

"The  eyesight  is  directed  to  objects  far 
and  near,  as  the  pigeons  flying,  the  hare 
running,  the  light  flickering  on  the  wall, 
the  calm  beauty  of  the  moon,  and  the  twink 
ling  stars  in  the  dark  blue  sky." 

Of  the  effect  of  Froebel's  symbolic  songs 
and  games,  with  melodious  music  and  appro 
priate  gesture,  kindergartners  all  speak  en 
thusiastically.  They  know  that  — 

First :  The  words  suggest  thought  to  the 
child. 

Second :  The  thought  suggests  gesture. 

Third  :  The  gesture  aids  in  producing  the 
proper  feeling. 

We  all  believe  thoroughly  in  the  influence 
of  mind  on  body,  the  inward  working  out 
ward,  but  we  are  not  as  ready  to  see  the 
influence  of  body  on  mind.  Yet  if  mind  or 
soul  acts  upon  the  body,  the  external  ges 
ture  and  attitude  just  as  truly  react  upon 
the  inward  feeling.  "  The  soul  speaks 
through  the  body,  and  the  body  in  return 
gives  command  to  the  soul."  All  attitudes 
mean  something,  and  they  all  influence  the 
state  of  mind. 


42  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

Fourth :  The  melody  begets  spiritual  im 
pressions. 

Fifth :  The  gestures,  feeling,  and  melody 
unite  in  giving  a  sweet  and  gentle  inter 
course,  in  developing  love  for  labor,  home, 
country,  associates,  and  dumb  animals,  and 
in  unconsciously  directing  the  intellectual 
powers. 

Learning  to  sing  well  is  the  best  possible 
means  of  learning  to  speak  well,  and  the  ex 
quisite  precision  which  music  gives  to  kin 
dergarten  play  destroys  all  rudeness,  and 
does  not  in  the  least  rob  it  of  its  fun  or  mer 
riment. 

"  We  cannot  tell  how  early  the  pleasing 
sense  of  musical  cadence  affects  a  child.  In 
some  children  it  is  blended  with  the  earliest, 
haziest  recollection  of  life  at  all,  as  though 
they  had  been  literally  '  cradled  in  sweet 
song ; '  and  we  may  be  sure  that  the  hear 
ing  of  musical  sounds  and  singing  in  asso 
ciation  with  others  are  for  the  child,  as  for 
the  adult,  powerful  influences  in  awakening 
sympathetic  emotion,  and  pleasure  in  asso 
ciated  action." 

Who  can  see  the  kindergarten  games,  led 
by  a  teacher  who  has  grown  into  their  spirit, 
and  ever  forget  the  joy  of  the  spectacle  ? 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  43 

It  brings  tears  to  the  eyes  of  any  woman 
who  has  ever  been  called  mother,  or  ever 
hopes  to  be ;  and  I  have  seen  more  than  one 
man  retire  surreptitiously  to  wipe  away  his 
tears.  Is  it  "that  touch  of  nature  which 
makes  the  whole  world  kin"?  Is  it  the  per 
fect  self-forgetfulness  of  the  children  ?  Is  it 
a  touch  of  self-pity  that  the  radiant  visions 
of  our  childhood  days  have  been  dispelled, 
and  the  years  have  brought  the  "  inevitable 
yoke  "  ?  Or  is  it  the  touching  sight  of  so 
much  happiness  contrasted  with  what  we 
know  the  home  life  to  be  ? 

Sydney  Smith  says :  "If  you  make  chil 
dren  happy  now,  you  will  make  them  happy 
twenty  years  hence  by  the  memory  of  it ; " 
and  we  know  that  virtue  kindles  at  the 
touch  of  this  joy.  "  Selfishness,  rudeness, 
and  similar  weedy  growths  of  school-life  or 
of  street-independence  cannot  grow  in  such 
an  atmosphere.  For  joy  is  as  foreign  to 
tumult  and  destruction,  to  harshness  and 
selfish  disregard  of  others,  as  the  serene, 
vernal  sky  with  its  refreshing  breezes  is 
foreign  to  the  uproar  and  terrors  of  the  hur 
ricane." 

For  this  kind  of  ideal  play  we  are  in 
debted  to  Friedrich  Froebel,  and  if  he  had 


44  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

left  no  other  legacy  to  childhood,  we  should 
exalt  him  for  it. 

If  you  are  skeptical,  let  me  beseech  you  to 
join  the  children  in  a  Free  Kindergarten, 
and  play  with  them.  You  will  be  convinced, 
not  through  your  head,  perhaps,  but  through 
your  heart.  I  remember  converting  such 
a  grim  female  once !  You  know  Henry 
James  says,  "  Some  women  are  unmarried 
by  choice,  and  others  by  chance,  but  Olive 
Chancellor  was  unmarried  by  every  impli 
cation  of  her  being."  Now,  this  predesti 
nate  spinster  acquaintance  of  mine,  well  nigh 
spoiled  by  years  of  school-teaching  in  the 
wrong  spirit,  was  determined  to  think  kin 
dergarten  play  simply  a  piece  of  nauseating 
frivolity.  She  tried  her  best,  but,  kept  in 
the  circle  with  the  children  five  successive 
days,  she  relaxed  so  completely  that  it  was 
with  the  utmost  difficulty  that  she  kept  her 
self  from  being  a  butterfly  or  a  bird.  It  is 
always  so ;  no  one  can  resist  the  uncon 
scious  happiness  of  children. 

As  for  the  good  that  comes  to  grown 
people  from  playing  with  children  in  this 
joyous  freedom  and  with  this  deep  earnest 
ness  of  purpose,  it  is  beyond  all  imagination. 
If  I  had  a  daughter  who  was  frivolous,  or 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  45 

worldly,  or  selfish,  or  cold,  or  unthoughtful, 
—  who  regarded  life  as  a  pleasantry,  or  fell 
into  the  still  more  stupid  mistake  of  think 
ing  it  not  worth  living,  —  I  should  not  (at 
first)  make  her  read  the  Bible,  or  teach  in 
the  Sunday-school,  or  call  on  the  minister, 
or  request  the  prayers  of  the  congregation, 
but  I  should  put  her  in  a  good  Kindergarten 
Training  School.  No  normal  young  woman 
can  resist  the  influence  of  the  study  of  child 
hood  and  the  daily  life  among  little  chil 
dren,  especially  the  children  of  the  poor  :  it 
is  irresistible. 

Oh,  these  tiny  teachers !  If  we  only 
learned  from  them  all  we  might,  instead  of 
feeling  ourselves  over-wise !  I  never  look 
down  into  the  still,  clear  pool  of  a  child's 
innocent,  questioning  eyes  without  thinking: 
"  Dear  little  one,  it  must  be  '  give  and  take  ' 
between  thee  and  me.  I  have  gained  some 
thing  here  in  all  these  years,  but  thou  hast 
come  from  thence  more  lately  than  have  I ; 
thou  hast  a  treasure  that  the  years  have 
stolen  from  me  —  share  it  with  me !  " 

Let  us  endeavor,  then,  to  make  the  child's 
life  objective  to  him.  Let  us  unlock  to  him 
the  significance  of  family,  social,  and  na 
tional  relationships,  so  that  he  may  grow 


46  CHILDREN^  RIGHTS 

into  sympathy  with  them.  He  loves  the 
symbol  which  interprets  his  nature  to  him 
self,  and  in  his  eager  play,  he  pictures  the 
life  he  longs  to  understand. 

If  we  could  make  such  education  contin 
uous,  if  we  could  surround  the  child  in  his 
earlier  years  with  such  an  atmosphere  of 
goodness,  beauty,  and  wisdom,  none  can 
doubt  that  he  would  unconsciously  grow  into 
harmony  and  union  with  the  All-Good,  the 
All-Beautiful,  and  the  All-Wise. 


CHILDREN'S  PLAYTHINGS 

"Books  cannot  teach  what  toys  inculcate." 


CHILDREN'S  PLAYTHINGS 

IN  the  preceding  chapter  we  discussed 
Froebel's  plays,  and  found  that  the  playful 
spirit  which  pervades  all  the  kindergarten 
exercises  must  not  be  regarded  as  trivial, 
since  it  has  a  philosophic  motive  and  a  defi 
nite,  earnest  purpose. 

We  discussed  the  meaning  of  childish 
play,  and  deplored  the  lack  of  good  and 
worthy  national  nursery  plays.  Passing 
then  to  Froebel's  "Mother-Play,"  we  found 
that  the  very  heart  of  his  educational  idea 
lies  in  the  book,  and  that  it  serves  as  a 
guide  for  mothers  whose  babies  are  yet  in 
their  arms,  as  well  as  for  those  who  have 
little  children  of  four  or  five  years  under 
their  care. 

We  found  that  in  Froebel's  plays  the 
mirror  is  held  up  to  universal  life  ;  that  the 
child  in  playing  them  grows  into  uncon 
scious  sympathy  with  the  natural,  the  hu 
man,  the  divine  ;  that  by  "  playing  at "  the 
life  he  longs  to  understand,  he  grows  at 


50  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

last  into  a  conscious  realization  of  its  mys« 
teries  —  its  truth,  its  meaning,  its  dignity, 
its  purpose. 

We  found  that  symbolic  play  leads  the 
child  from  the  symbol  to  the  truth  symbol 
ized. 

We  discovered  that  the  carefully  chosen 
words  of  the  kindergarten  songs  and  games 
suggest  thought  to  the  child,  the  thought 
suggests  gesture,  the  melody  begets  spiritual 
feeling. 

We  discussed  the  relation  of  body  and 
mind  ;  the  effect  of  bodily  attitudes  on  feel 
ing  and  thought,  as  well  as  the  moulding  of 
the  body  by  the  indwelling  mind. 

Froebel's  playthings  are  as  significant  as 
his  plays.  If  you  examine  the  materials  he 
offers  children  in  his  "  gifts  and  occupa 
tions,"  you  cannot  help  seeing  that  they 
meet  the  child's  natural  wants  in  a  truly 
wonderful  manner,  and  that  used  in  con 
nection  with  conversations  and  stories  and 
games  they  address  and  develop  his  love  of 
movement  and  his  love  of  rhythm ;  his  desire 
to  touch  and  handle,  to  play  and  work  (to  be 
busy),  and  his  curiosity  to  know ;  his  in 
stincts  of  construction  and  comparison,  his 
fondness  for  gardening  and  digging  in  the 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  51 

earth  ;  his  social  impulse,  and  finally  his  re 
ligious  feeling. 

Froebel  himself  says  if  his  educational 
materials  are  found  useful,  it  cannot  be  be 
cause  of  their  exterior,  which  is  as  simple  as 
possible,  and  contains  nothing  new ;  but 
their  worth  is  to  be  found  exclusively  in 
their  application.  If  you  can  work  out  his 
principles  (or  better  ones  still  when  we  find 
better  ones)  by  other  means,  pray  do  it  if 
you  prefer  ;  since  the  object  of  the  kinder- 
gartner  is  not  to  make  Froebel  an  idol,  but  an 
ideal.  He  seems  to  have  found  type-forms 
admirable  for  awaking  the  higher  senses  of 
the  child,  and  unlike  the  usual  scheme  of 
object  lessons,  they  tell  a  continued  story. 
When  the  object-method  first  burst  upon 
the  enraptured  sight  of  the  teacher,  this  list 
of  subjects  appeared  in  a  printed  catalogue, 
showing  the  ground  of  study  in  a  certain 
school  for  six  months  :  — 

"  Tea,  spiders,  apple,  hippopotamus,  cow, 
cotton,  duck,  sugar,  rabbits,  rice,  lighthouse, 
candle,  lead-pencil,  pins,  tiger,  clothing,  sil 
ver,  butter-making,  giraffe,  onion,  soda  !  " 

Such  reckless  heterogeneity  as  this  is  im 
possible  with  Froebel's  educational  mate 
rials,  for  even  if  they  are  given  to  the  child 


52  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

without  a  single  word,  they  carry  something 
of  their  own  logic  with  them. 

They  emphasize  the  gospel  of  doing,  for 
Froebel  believes  in  positives  in  teaching, 
not  negatives  ;  in  stimulants,  not  deterrents. 
How  inexpressibly  tiresome  is  the  everlast 
ing  "  Don't !  "  in  some  households.  Don't 
get  in  the  fire,  don't  play  in  the  water,  don't 
tease  the  kitty,  don't  trouble  the  doggy, 
don't  bother  the  lady,  don't  interrupt,  don't 
contradict,  don't  fidget  with  your  brother, 
and  dont  worry  me  now ;  while  perhaps  in 
this  whole  tirade,  not  a  word  has  been  said 
of  something  to  do. 

Let  sleeping  faults  lie  as  long  as  possible 
while  we  quietly  oust  them,  little  by  little, 
by  developing  the  good  qualities.  Surely  the 
less  we  use  deterrents  the  better,  since  they 
are  often  the  child's  first  introduction  to 
what  is  undesirable  or  wrong.  I  am  quite 
sure  they  have  something  of  that  effect  on 
grown  people.  The  telling  us  not  to  do, 
and  that  we  cannot,  must  not,  do  a  certain 
thing  surrounds  it  with  a  momentary  fas 
cination.  If  your  enemy  suggests  that  there 
is  a  pot  of  Paris  green  on  the  piazza,  but 
you  must  not  take  a  spoonful  and  dissolve 
it  in  a  cup  of  honey  and  give  it  to  your 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  53 

maiden  aunt  who  has  made  her  will  in  your 
favor,  your  innocent  mind  hovers  for  an 
instant  over  the  murderous  idea. 

Froebel's  play-materials  come  to  the  child 
when  he  has  entered  upon  the  war-path  of 
getting  "  something  to  do."  If  legitimate 
means  fail,  then  "  let  the  portcullis  fall ;  " 
the  child  must  be  busy. 

The  fly  on  the  window-pane  will  be 
crushed,  the  kettle  tied  to  the  dog's  tail, 
the  curtains  cut  into  snips,  the  baby's  hair 
shingled,  —  anything  that  his  untiring  hands 
may  not  pause  an  instant,  —  anything  that 
his  chubby  legs  may  take  his  restless  body 
over  a  circuit  of  a  hundred  miles  or  so  before 
he  is  immured  in  his  crib  for  the  night. 

The  child  of  four  or  five  years  is  still  in 
terested  in  objects,  in  the  concrete.  He 
wants  to  see  and  to  hear,  to  examine  and  to 
work  with  his  hands.  How  absurd  then  for 
us  to  make  him  fold  his  arms  and  keep  his 
active  fingers  still ;  or  strive  to  stupefy  him 
with  such  an  opiate  as  the  alphabet.  If  we 
can  possess  our  souls  and  primers  in  pa 
tience  for  a  while,  and  feed  his  senses ;  if 
we  will  let  him  take  in  living  facts  and  await 
the  result ;  that  result  will  be  that  when  he 
has  learned  to  perceive,  compare,  and  con- 


54  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

struct,  he  will  desire  to  learn  words,  for  they 
tell  him  what  others  have  seen,  thought,  and 
done.  This  reading  and  writing,  what  is 
it,  after  all,  but  the  signs  for  things  and 
thoughts?  Logically  we  must  first  know 
things,  then  thoughts,  then  their  records. 
The  law  of  human  progress  is  from  physical 
activity  to  mental  power,  from  a  Hercules 
to  a  Shakespeare,  and  it  is  as  true  for  each 
unit  of  humanity  as  it  is  for  the  race. 

Everything  in  Froebel's  playthings  trains 
the  child  to  quick,  accurate  observation. 
They  help  children  to  a  fuller  vision,  they 
lead  them  to  see.  Did  you  ever  think  how 
many  people  there  are  who  "  having  eyes, 
see  not "  ? 

Ruskin  says,  "  Hundreds  of  people  can 
talk  for  one  who  can  think,  but  thousands 
can  think  for  one  who  can  see.  To  see 
clearly  is  poetry,  prophecy,  religion,  all  in 
one." 

A  gentleman  who  is  trying  to  write  the 
biography  of  a  great  man  complained  to  me 
lately,  that  in  consulting  a  dozen  of  his 
friends  —  men  and  women  who  had  known 
him  as  preacher,  orator,  reformer,  and  poet 
—  so  few  of  them  had  anything  character 
istic  and  fine  to  relate.  "  What,"  he  said 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  55 

"is  the  use  of  trying  to  write  biography 
with  such  mummies  for  witnesses !  They 
would  have  seen  just  as  much  if  they  had 
had  nothing  but  glass  eyes  in  their  heads." 

"What  is  education  good  for  that  does  not 
teach  the  mind  to  observe  accurately  and 
define  picturesquely  ?  To  get  at  the  essence 
of  an  object  and  clear  away  the  accompany 
ing  rubbish,  this  is  the  only  training  that 
fits  men  and  women  to  live  with  any  profit 
to  themselves  or  pleasure  to  others.  What 
a  biographer,  for  example,  or  at  least  what 
a  witness  for  some  other  biographer,  was 
latent  in  the  little  boy  who,  when  told  by 
his  teacher  to  define  a  bat,  said  :  "  lie 's  a 
nasty  little  mouse,  with  injy-rubber  wings 
and  shoe-string  tail,  and  bites  like  the 
devil."  There  was  an  eye  worth  having  ! 
Agassiz  himself  could  not  have  hit  off  better 
the  salient  characteristics  of  the  little  crea 
ture  in  question.  Had  that  remarkable  boy 
been  brought  into  contact,  for  five  minutes 
only,  with  Julius  Caesar,  who  can  doubt  that 
the  telling  description  he  would  have  given 
of  him  would  have  come  down  through  all 
the  ages  ? 

I  do  not  mean  to  urge  the  adoption  of  any 
ultra-utilitarian  standpoint  in  regard  to  play- 


56  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

things,  or  advise  you  rudely  to  enter  the 
realm  of  early  infancy  and  interfere  with  the 
baby's  legitimate  desires  by  any  meddle 
some  pedagogic  reasoning.  Choose  his  toys/ 
wisely  and  then  leave  him  alone  with  themj 
Leave  him  to  the  throng  of  emotional  im-1 
pressions  they  will  call  into  being.  Remem-! 
ber  that  they  speak  to  his  feelings  when  hio  * 
mind  is  not  yet  open  to  reason.  The  toy  at 
this  period  is  surrounded  with  a  halo  of 
poetry  and  mystery,  and  lays  hold  of  the 
imagination  and  the  heart  without  awaking 

O  O 

vulgar  curiosity.  Thrice  happy  age  when 
one  can  hug  one's  white  woolly  lamb  to  one's 
bibbed  breast,  kiss  its  pink  bead  eyes  in 
irrational  ecstasy,  and  manipulate  the  squeak 
in  its  foreground  without  desire  to  explore 
the  cause  thereof ! 

At  this  period  the  well-beloved  toy,  the 
dumb  sharer  of  the  child's  joys  and  sorrows, 
becomes  the  nucleus  of  a  thousand  enter 
prises,  each  rendered  more  fascinating  by 
its  presence  and  sympathy.  If  the  toy  be  a 
horse,  they  take  imaginary  journeys  together, 
and  the  road  is  doubly  delightful  because 
never  traveled  alone.  If  it  be  a  house,  the 
ebild  lives  therein  a  different  life  for  every 
day  in  the  week ;  for  no  monarch  alive 


L'lllLDKL'X'S   RIGHTS  57 

is  so  all-powerful  as  he  whose  throne  is 
the  imagination.  Little  tin  soldier,  Shem, 
Ham,  and  Japhet  from  the  Noah's  Ark,  the 
hornless  cow,  the  tailless  dog,  and  the  ele 
phant  that  won't  stand  up,  these  play  their 
allotted  parts  in  his  innocent  comedies,  and 
meanwhile  he  grows  steadily  in  sympathy 
and  in  comprehension  of  the  ever-widening 
circle  of  human  relationships.  "  When  we 
have  restored  playthings  to  their  place  in 
education  —  a  place  which  assigns  them  the 
principal  part  in  the  development  of  human 
sympathies,  we  can  later  on  put  in  the  hands 
of  children  objects  whose  impressions  will 
reach  their  minds  more  particularly." 

Dr.  E.  Seguin,  our  Commissioner  of  Edu 
cation  to  the  Universal  Exhibition  at  Vienna, 
philosophizes  most  charmingly  on  children's 
toys  in  his  Report  (chapter  on  the  Training 
of  Special  Senses).  He  says  the  vast  array 
of  playthings  (separated  by  nationalities)  left 
at  first  sight  an  impression  of  silly  sameness ; 
but  that  a  second  look  "  discovered  in  them 
particular  characters,  as  of  national  idiosyn 
crasies  ;  and  a  closer  examination  showed 
that  these  puerilities  had  sense  enough  in 
them,  not  only  to  disclose  the  movements  of 
the  mind,  but  to  predict  what  is  to  follow." 


58  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

He  classifies  the  toys  exhibited,  and  in  so 
doing  gives  us  delightful  and  valuable  gen 
eralizations,  some  of  which  I  will  quote :  — 

"  Chinese  and  Japanese  toys  innumerable, 
as  was  to  have  been  expected.  Japanese 
toys  much  brighter,  the  dolls  relieved  in 
gold  and  gaudy  colors,  absolutely  saucy. 
The  application  of  the  natural  and  mechani 
cal  forces  in  their  toys  cannot  fail  to  deter 
mine  the  taste  of  the  next  generation  to 
wards  physical  sciences. 

"  Chinese  dolls  are  sober  in  color,  meek  in 
demeanor,  and  comprehensive  in  mien.  .  .  . 
The  favorite  Chinese  toy  remains  the  theat 
rical  scene  where  the  family  is  treated  a  la 
Moliere. 

"  Persia  sends  beautiful  toys,  from  which 
can  be  inferred  a  national  taste  for  music, 
since  most  of  their  dolls  are  blowing  instru 
ments. 

"  Turkey,  Egypt,  Arabia,  have  sent  no 
dolls.  Do  they  make  none,  under  the  impres 
sion,  correct  in  a  low  state  of  culture,  that 
dolls  for  children  become  idols  for  men  ? 

44  The  Finlanders  and  Laplanders,  who  are 
not  troubled  with  such  religious  prejudices, 
give  rosy  cheeks  and  bodies  as  fat  as  seals 
to  their  dolls. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  59 

"  The  French  toy  represents  the  versatility 
of  the  nation,  touching  every  topic,  grave  or 
grotesque. 

"From  Berlin  come  long  trains  of  artil 
lery,  regiments  of  lead,  horse  and  foot  on 
moving  tramways. 

"  From  the  Hartz  and  the  Alps  still  issue 
those  wooden  herds,  more  characteristic  of 
the  dull  feelings  of  their  makers  than  of  the 
instincts  of  the  animals  they  represent. 

"  The  American  toys  justify  the  rule  we 
have  found  good  elsewhere,  that  their  char 
acter  both  reveals  and  prefaces  the  national 
tendencies.  With  us,  toys  refer  the  mind 
and  habits  of  children  to  home  economy, 
husbandry,  and  mechanical  labor  ;  and  their 
very  material  is  durable,  mainly  wood  and 
iron. 

"  So  from  childhood  every  people  has  its 
sympathies  expressed  or  suppressed,  and  set 
deeper  in  its  flesh  and  blood  than  scholastic 
ideas.  .  .  .  The  children  who  have  no  toys 
seize  realities  very  late,  and  never  form 
ideals.  .  .  .  The  nations  rendered  famous 
by  their  artists,  artisans,  and  idealists  have 
supplied  their  infants  with  many  toys,  for 
there  is  more  philosophy  and  poetry  in  a 
single  doll  than  in  a  thousand  books.  .  .  . 


60  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

If  you  will  tell  us  what  your  children  play 
with,  we  will  tell  you  what  sort  of  women 
and  men  they  will  be ;  so  let  this  Kepublic 
make  the  toys  which  will  raise  the  moral 
and  artistic  character  of  her  children." 

Froebel's  educational  toys  do  us  one  ser 
vice,  in  that  they  preach  a  silent  but  impres 
sive  sermon  on  simplicity. 

It  is  easy  to  see  that  the  hurlyburly  of 
our  modern  life  is  not  wholly  favorable  to 
the  simple  creed  of  childhood,  "  delight  and 
liberty,  when  busy  or  at  rest,"  but  we  might 
make  it  a  little  less  artificial  than  we  do,  per 
haps. 

Every  thoughtful  person  knows  that  the 
simple,  natural  playthings  of  the  old-fash 
ioned  child,  which  are  nothing  more  than 
pegs  on  which  he  hangs  his  glowing  fancies, 
are  healthier  than  our  complicated  modern 
mechanisms,  in  which  the  child  has  only  to 
"  press  the  button  "  and  the  toy  "  does  the 
rest." 

The  electric-talking  doll,  for  example  — 
imagine  a  generation  of  children  brought  up 
on  that !  And  the  toy-makers  are  not  even 
content  with  this  grand  personage,  four  feet 
high,  who  says  "  Papa  !  Mamma  !  "  She  is 
passee  already  ;  they  have  begun  to  improve 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  .       61 

on  her !  An  electrician  described  to  me  the 
other  day  a  superb  new  altruistic  doll,  fitted 
to  the  needs  of  the  present  decade.  You 
are  to  press  a  judiciously  located  button  and 
ask  her  the  test  question,  which  is,  if  she 
will  have  some  candy ;  whereupon  with  an 
angelic  detached-movement-smile  (located  in 
the  left  cheek),  she  is  to  answer,  "  Give 
brother  big  piece  ;  give  me  little  piece  ! 
If  the  thing  gets  out  of  order  (and  I  de 
voutly  hope  it  will),  it  will  doubtless  return 
to  a  state  of  nature,  and  horrify  the  by 
standers  by  remarking,  "  Give  me  big  piece ! 
Give  brother  little  piece  !  " 

Think  of  having  a  gilded  dummy  like 
that  given  you  to  amuse  yourself  with! 
Think  of  having  to  play,  —  to  pluy,  for 
sooth,  with  a  model  of  propriety,  a  high- 
minded  monstrosity  like  that !  Does  n't  it 
make  you  long  for  your  dear  old  darkey  doll 
with  the  raveled  mouth,  and  the  stuffing  leak 
ing  out  of  her  legs  ;  or  your  beloved  Arabella 
Clarinda  with  the  broken  nose,  beautiful 
even  in  dissolution,  —  creatures  "  not  too 
bright  or  good  for  human  nature's  daily 
food  "  ?  Banged,  battered,  hairless,  sharers 
of  our  mad  joys  and  reckless  sorrows,  how 
we  loved  them  in  their  simple  ugliness ! 


62  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

With  what  halos  of  romance  we  surrounded 
them  !  with  what  devotion  we  nursed  the  one 
with  the  broken  head,  in  those  early  days 
when  new  heads  were  not  to  be  bought  at  the 
nearest  shop.  And  even  if  they  could  have 
been  purchased  for  us,  would  we,  the  primi 
tive  children  of  those  dear,  dark  ages,  have 
ever  thought  of  wrenching  off  the  cracked 
blonde  head  of  Ethelinda  and  buying  a  new, 
strange,  nameless  brunette  head,  gluing  it 
calmly  on  Ethelinda's  body,  as  a  small  ac 
quaintance  of  mine  did  last  week,  apparently 
without  a  single  pang  ?  Never  !  A  doll  had 
a  personality  in  those  times,  and  has  yet, 
to  a  few  simple  backwoods  souls,  even  in 
this  day  and  generation.  Think  of  Charles 
Kingsley's  song,  —  "I  once  had  a  sweet 
little  doll,  dears."  Can  we  imagine  that 
as  written  about  one  of  these  modern  mon 
strosities  with  eyeglasses  and  corsets  and 
vinaigrettes  ? 

"  I  once  had  a  sweet  little  doll,  dears, 
The  prettiest  doll  in  the  world, 
Her  face  was  so  red  and  so  white,  dears, 
And  her  hair  was  so  charmingly  curled  ; 
But  I  lost  my  poor  little  doll,  dears, 
As  I  played  on  the  heath  one  day, 
And  I  sought  for  her  more  than  a  week,  dears, 
But  I  never  could  find  where  she  lay. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  63 

*'  I  found  my  poor  little  doll,  dears, 
As  I  played  on  the  heath  one  day  ; 
Folks  say  she  is  terribly  changed,  dears, 
For  her  paint  is  all  washed  away  ; 
And  her  arms  trodden  off  by  the  cows,  dears, 
And  her  hair  not  the  least  bit  curled  ; 
Yet  for  old  sake's  sake  she  is  still,  dears, 
The  prettL-st  doll  in  the  world." 

Long  live  the  doll ! 

"  Dolly-o'diamonds,  precious  lamb, 
Humming-bird,  honey-pot,  jewel,  jam, 
Darling  delicate-dear-delight  — 
Angel-o'red,  angel-o' white  !  " 

"  Take  away  the  doll,  you  erase  from  the 
heart  and  head  feelings,  images,  poetry,  as 
piration,  experience,  ready  for  application 
to  real  life." 

Every  mother  knows  the  development  of 
tenderness  and  motherliness  that  goes  on  in 
her  little  girl  through  the  nursing  and  pet 
ting  and  teaching  and  caring  for  her  doll. 
There  is  a  good  deal  of  journalistic  anxiety 
concerning  the  decline  of  mothers.  Is  it 

O 

possible  that  fathers,  too,  are  in  any  danger 
of  decline  ?  It  is  impossible  to  overestimate 
the  sacredness  and  importance  of  the  mother- 
spirit  in  the  universe,  but  the  father-spirit  is 
not  positively  valueless  (so  far  as  it  goes). 
The  newspaper-pessimists  talk  comparatively 


64  CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS 

little  about  developing  that  in  the  young 
male  of  the  species.  In  three  years'  practi 
cal  experience  among  the  children  of  the 
poorer  classes,  and  during  all  the  succeeding 
years,  when  I  have  filled  the  honorary  and 
honorable  offices  of  general-utility  woman, 
story-teller,  song-singer,  and  playmaker-in- 
ordinary  to  their  royal  highnesses,  some 
thousands  of  babies,  I  have  been  struck  with 
the  greater  hardness  of  the  small  boys  ;  a 
certain  coarseness  of  fibre  and  lack  of  sen 
sitiveness  which  makes  them  less  susceptible, 
at  first,  to  gentle  influences. 

Once  upon  a  time  I  set  about  developing 
this  father  spirit  in  a  group  of  little  gamins 
whose  general  attitude  toward  the  weaker 
sex,  toward  birds  and  flowers  and  insects, 
toward  beauty  in  distress  and  wounded  sen 
sibility,  was  in  the  last  degree  offensive. 
In  the  bird  games  we  had  always  had  a 
mother  bird  in  the  nest  with  the  birdlings  ; 
we  now  introduced  a  father  bird  into  the 
game.  Though  the  children  had  been  only 
a  little  time  in  the  kindergarten,  and  were 
not  fully  baptized  into  the  spirit  of  play, 
still  the  boys  were  generally  willing  to  per 
sonate  the  father  bird,  since  their  delight  in 
the  active  and  manly  occupation  of  flying 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  ftfl 

about  the  room  seeking  worms  overshadowed 
their  natural  repugnance  to  feeding  the 
young.  This  accomplished,  we  played  "  Mas 
ter  Kider,"  in  which  a  small  urchin  capered 
about  on  a  hobby  horse,  going  through  a 
variety  of  adventures,  and  finally  returning 
with  presents  to  wife  and  children.  This  in 
turn  became  a  matter  of  natural  experience, 
and  we  moved  towards  our  grand  coup 
tfttat. 

Once  a  week  we  had  dolls'  day,  when  all 
the  children  who  owned  them  brought  their 
dolls,  and  the  exercises  were  ordered  with 
the  single  view  of  amusing  and  edifying 
them.  The  picture  of  that  circle  of  ragged 
children  comes  before  me  now  and  dims  my 
eyes  with  its  pathetic  suggestions. 

Such  dolls  !  Five-cent,  ten-cent  dolls  ; 
dolls  with  soiled  clothes  and  dolls  in  a  highly 
indecorous  state  of  nudity ;  dolls  whose 
ruddy  hues  of  health  had  been  absorbed 
into  their  mothers'  systems  ;  dolls  made  of 
rags,  dolls  made  of  carrots,  and  dolls  made 
of  towels  ;  but  all  dispensing  odors  of  garlic 
in  the  common  air.  Maternal  affection, 
however,  pardoned  all  limitations,  and  they 
were  clasped  as  fondly  to  maternal  bosoms 
as  if  they  had  been  imported  from  Paris. 


66  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

"  Bless  my  soul  !  "  might  have  been  the  un 
spoken  comment  of  these  tiny  mothers.  "  If 
we  are  only  to  love  our  offspring  when 
handsome  and  well  clothed,  then  the  mother- 
heart  of  society  is  in  a  bad  way !  " 

Dolls'  day  was  the  day  for  lullabies.  I 
always  wished  I  might  gather  a  group  of 
stony-hearted  men  and  women  in  that  room 
and  see  them  melt  under  the  magic  of  the 
scene.  Perhaps  you  cannot  imagine  the 
union  of  garlic  and  magic,  nevertheless,  O 
ye  of  little  faith,  it  may  exist.  The  kinder 
garten  cradle  stood  in  the  centre  of  the 
circle,  and  the  kindergarten  doll,  clean, 
beautiful,  and  well  dressed,  lay  inside  the 
curtains,  waiting  to  be  sung  to  sleep  with  the 
other  dolls.  One  little  girl  after  another 
would  go  proudly  to  the  "  mother's  chair  " 
and  rock  the  cradle,  while  the  other  children 
hummed  their  gentle  lullabies.  At  this 
juncture  even  the  older  boys  (when  the  in 
fluence  of  the  music  had  stolen  in  upon 
their  senses)  would  glance  from  side  to  side 
longingly,  as  much  as  to  say,  — 

"  O  Lord,  why  didst  Thou  not  make  thy 
servant  a  female,  that  he  might  dandle  one 
of  these  interesting  objects  without  degrada 
tion  ! " 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  67 

In  such  an  hour  I  suddenly  said,  "  Jo- 
sephus,  will  you  be  the  father  this  time  ?  " 
and  without  giving  him  a  second  to  think, 
we  began  our  familiar  lullaby.  The  radical 
nature,  the  full  enormity,  of  the  proposition 
did  not  (in  that  moment  of  sweet  expansion) 
strike  Josephus.  He  moved  towards  the 
cradle,  seated  himself  in  the  chair,  put  his 
foot  upon  the  rocker,  and  rocked  the  baby 
soberly,  while  my  heart  sang  in  triumph. 
After  this  the  fathers  as  well  as  the  mo 
thers  took  part  in  all  family  games,  and  this 
mighty  and  much-needed  reform  had  been 
worked  through  the  magic  of  a  fascinating 
plaything. 


WHAT  SHALL  CHILDREN  READ? 

"  What  we  make  children  love  and  desire   is  more  im 
portant  than  what  we  make  them  learn." 


WHAT   SHALL  CHILDREN   READ? 

WHEN  I  was  a  little  girl  (oh,  six  most 
charming  words  !)  —  it  is  not  necessary  to 
name  the  year,  but  it  was  so  long  ago  that 
children  were  still  reminded  that  they  should 
be  seen  and  not  heard,  and  also  that  they 
could  eat  what  was  set  before  them  or  go 
without  (two  maxims  that  suggest  a  hoary 
antiquity  of  time  not  easily  measured  by  the 
senses),  —  when  I  was  a  little  girl,  I  had 
the  great  good  fortune  to  live  in  a  country 
village. 

I  believe  I  always  had  a  taste  for  books  ; 
but  I  will  pass  over  that  early  period  when 
I  manifested  it  by  carrying  them  to  my 
mouth,  and  endeavored  to  assimilate  their 
contents  by  the  cramming  process  ;  and  also 
that  later  stage,  which  heralded  the  dawn  of 
the  critical  faculty,  perhaps,  when  I  tore 
them  in  bits  and  held  up  the  tattered  frag 
ments  with  shouts  of  derisive  laughter.  Un 
like  the  critic,  no  more  were  given  me  to 


72  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

mar ;  but,  like  the  critic,  I  had  marred  a 
good  many  ere  my  vandal  hand  was  stayed. 

As  soon  as  I  could  read,  I  had  free  access 
to  an  excellent  medical  library,  the  gloom  of 
which  was  brightened  by  a  few  shelves  of 
theological  works,  bequeathed  to  the  family 
by  some  orthodox  ancestor,  and  tempered  by 
a  volume  or  two  of  Blackstone  ;  but  outside 
of  these,  which  were  emphatically  not  the 
stuff  my  dreams  were  made  of,  I  can  only 
remember  a  certain  little  walnut  bookcase 
hanging  on  the  wall  of  the  family  sitting- 
room. 

It  had  but  three  shelves,  yet  all  the  mys 
teries  of  love  and  life  and  death  were  in  the 
score  of  well-worn  volumes  that  stood  there 
side  by  side ;  and  we  turned  to  them,  year 
after  year,  with  undiminished  interest.  The 
number  never  seemed  small,  the  stories 
never  grew  tame :  when  we  came  to  the  end 
of  the  third  shelf,  we  simply  went  back  and 
began  again,  —  a  process  all  too  little  known 
to  latter-day  children. 

I  can  see  them  yet,  those  rows  of  shabby 
and  incongruous  volumes,  the  contents  of 
which  were  transferred  to  our  hungry  little 
brains.  Some  of  them  are  close  at  hand 
now,  and  I  love  their  ragged  corners,  their 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHT*  ~'.$ 

dog's-eared  pages  that  show  the  pressure  of 
childish  thumbs,  and  their  dear  old  backs, 
broken  in  my  service. 

There  was  a  red-covered  "  Book  of  Snobs ; " 
"  Vanity  Fair  "  with  no  cover  at  all ;  "  Scot 
tish  Chiefs  "  in  crimson  ;  a  brown  copy  of 
George  Sand's  "  Teverino  ;  "  and  next  it  a 
green  Bailey's  "  Festus,"  which  I  only  at 
tacked  when  mentally  rabid,  and  a  little  of 
which  went  a  surprisingly  long  way  ;  and 
then  a  maroon  "  David  Copperfield,"  whose 
pages  were  limp  with  my  kisses.  (To  write 
a  book  that  a  child  would  kiss !  Oh,  dear 
reward  !  oh,  sweet,  sweet  fame  !) 

In  one  corner  —  spare  me  your  smiles  — 
was  a  fat  autobiography  of  P.  T.  Barnum, 
given  me  by  a  grateful  farmer  for  saving  the 
life  of  a  valuable  Jersey  calf  just  as  she  was 
on  the  point  of  strangling  herself.  This  book 
so  inflamed  a  naturally  ardent  imagination, 
that  I  was  with  difficulty  dissuaded  from 
entering  the  arena  as  a  circus  manager. 
Considerations  of  age  or  sex  had  no  weight 
with  me,  and  lack  of  capital  eventually 
proved  the  deterrent  force.  On  the  shelf 
above  were  "  Kenilworth,"  "  The  Lady  of 
the  Lake,"  and  half  of  "  Rob  Roy."  I  have 
always  hesitated  to  read  the  other  half,  for 


74  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

fear  that  it  should  not  end  precisely  as  I 
made  it  end  when  I  was  forced,  by  necessity, 
to  supplement  Sir  Walter  Scott.  Then 
there  was  "  Gulliver's  Travels,"  and  if  any 
of  the  stories  seemed  difficult  to  believe,  I 
had  only  to  turn  to  the  maps  of  Lilliput  and 
Brobdingnag,  with  the  degrees  of  latitude 
and  longitude  duly  marked,  which  always 
convinced  me  that  everything  was  fair  and 
aboveboard.  Of  course,  there  was  a  great 
green  and  gold  Shakespeare,  not  a  properly 
expurgated  edition  for  female  seminaries, 
either,  nor  even  prose  tales  from  Shake 
speare  adapted  to  young  readers,  but  the  real 
thing.  We  expurgated  as  we  read,  child 
fashion,  taking  into  our  sleek  little  heads 
all  that  we  could  comprehend  or  apprehend, 
and  unconsciously  passing  over  what  might 
have  been  hurtful,  perhaps,  at  a  later  pe 
riod.  I  suppose  we  failed  to  get  a  very 
close  conception  of  Shakespeare's  colossal 
genius,  but  we  did  get  a  tremendous  and 
lasting  impression  of  force  and  power,  life 
and  truth. 

When  we  declaimed  certain  scenes  in  an 
upper  chamber  with  sloping  walls  and  dor 
mer  windows,  a  bed  for  a  throne,  a  cotton 
umbrella  for  a  sceptre,  our  creations  were 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  75 

harmless  enough.  If  I  remember  rightly, 
our  nine-year-old  Lady  Macbeths  and  lagos, 
Falstaffs  and  Cleopatras,  after  they  had  been 
dipped  in  the  divine  alembic  of  childish  in 
nocence,  came  out  so  respectable  that  they 
would  not  have  brought  the  historic  "  blush 
to  the  cheek  of  youth." 

On  the  shelf  above  the  Shakespeare  were 
a  few  things  presumably  better  suited  to 
childish  tastes,  —  Hawthorne's  "  Wonder 
Book,"  Kingsley's  "Water  Babies,"  Miss 
Eclgeworth's  "  Rosamond,"  and  the  "  Ara 
bian  Nights." 

There  were  also  two  little  tales  given  us 
by  a  wandering  revivalist,  who  was  on  a 
starring  tour  through  the  New  England  vil 
lages,  "  How  Gussie  Grew  in  Grace,"  and 
"  Little  Harriet's  Work  for  the  Heathen," 
—  melodramatic  histories  of  spiritually  per 
fect  and  physically  feeble  children  who 
blessed  the  world  for  a  season,  but  died 
young,  enlivened  by  a  few  pages  devoted  to 
completely  vicious  and  adorable  ones  who 
lived  to  curse  the  world  to  a  good  old  age. 

Last  of  all,  brought  out  only  on  state  oc 
casions,  was  a  most  seductive  edition  of  that 
nursery  Gaboriau,  "  Who  Killed  Cock 
Robin  ?  "  with  colored  illustrations  in  which 


76  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

the  heads  of  the  birds  were  made  to  move 
oracularly,  by  means  of  cunningly  arranged 
strips  pulled  from  the  bottom  of  the  page. 
This  was  a  relic  of  infancy,  our  first  intro 
duction  to  the  literature  of  plot,  counterplot, 
intrigue,  and  crime,  and  the  mystery  of  the 
murder  was  very  real  to  us.  This  book, 
still  in  existence,  with  all  the  birds  headless 
from  over-exertion,  is  always  inextricably  as 
sociated  in  my  mind  with  childish  woes,  as 
a  desire  on  my  part  to  make  the  birds  wag 
their  heads  was  always  contemporaneous,  to  a 
second,  with  a  like  desire  on  my  sister's  part ; 
and  on  those  rare  days  when  the  precious 
volume  was  taken  down,  one  of  us  always 
donned  the  penitential  nightgown  early  in 
the  afternoon  and  supped  frugally  in  bed, 
while  the  other  feasted  gloriously  at  the 
family  board,  never  quite  happy  in  her  vir 
tue,  however,  since  it  separated  her  from  be 
loved  vice  in  disgrace.  That  paltry  tattered 
volume,  when  it  confronts  me  from  its  safe 
nook  in  a  bureau  drawer,  makes  my  heart 
beat  faster  and  sets  me  dreaming  !  Pray 
tell  me  if  any  book  read  in  your  later  and 
wiser  years  ever  brings  to  your  mind  such 
vivid  memories,  to  your  lips  so  lingering  a 
smile,  to  your  eye  so  ready  a  tear  ?  True 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  77 

enough,  "we  could  never  have  loved  the 
earth  so  well  if  we  had  had  no  childhood  in 
it.  ...  What  novelty  is  worth  that  sweet 
monotony  where  everything  is  known  and 
loved  because  it  is  known  ?  " 

This  autobiographical  babble  is  excusable 
for  one  reason  only. 

It  is  in  remembering  what  books  greatly 
moved  us  in  earlier  days  ;  what  books  wak 
ened  strong  and  healthy  desires,  enlarged 
the  horizon  of  our  understanding,  and  in 
spired  us  to  generous  action,  that  we  get 
some  clue  to  the  books  with  which  to  sur 
round  our  children  ;  and  a  reminiscence  of 
this  kind  becomes  a  sort  of  psychological 
observation.  The  moment  we  realize  clearly, 
that  the  books  we  read  in  childhood  and 
youth  make  a  profound  impression  that  can 
never  be  repeated  later  (save  in  some  rare: 
crisis  of  heart  and  soul,  where  a  printed 
page  marks  an  epoch  in  one's  mental  or  spir 
itual  life),  then  we  become  reinforced  in  our 
opinion  that  it  makes  a  deal  of  difference 
what  children  read  and  how  they  read  it. 

Agnes  Repplier  says :  "  It  is  part  of  the 
irony  of  life  that  our  discriminating  taste  for  t 
books  should  be  built  up  on  the  ashes  of  an 
extinct  enjoyment." 


78  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

A  book  is  such  a  fact  to  children,  its  peo 
ple  are  so  alive  and  so  heartily  loved  and 
hated,  its  scenes  so  absolutely  real !  Prone 
on  the  hearth-rug  before  the  tire,  or  curled  in 
the  window  seat,  they  forget  everything  but 
the  story.  The  shadows  deepen,  until  they 
can  read  no  longer ;  but  they  do  not  much 
care,  for  the  window  looks  into  an  enchanted 
region  peopled  with  brilliant  fancies.  The 
old  garden  is  sometimes  the  Forest  of  Arden, 
sometimes  the  Land  of  Lilliput,  sometimes 
the  Border.  The  gray  rock  on  the  river 
bank  is  now  the  cave  of  Monte  Cristo,  and 
now  a  castle  defended  by  scores  of  armed 
knights  who  peep  one  by  one  from  the  alder- 
bushes,  while  Fair  Ellen  and  the  lovely  Un 
dine  float  together  on  the  quiet  stream. 

For  forming  a  truly  admirable  literary 
taste,  I  cannot  indeed  say  much  in  favor  of 
my  own  motley  collection  of  books  just  men 
tioned,  for  I  was  simply  tumbled  in  among 
them  and  left  to  browse,  in  accordance  with 
Charles  Lamb's  whimsical  plan  for  Bridget 
Elia.  More  might  have  been  added,  and 
some  taken  away ;  but  they  had  in  them  a 
world  of  instruction  and  illumination  which 
children  miss  who  read  too  exclusively  those 
books  written  with  rigid  determination  down 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  79 

to  their  level,  neglecting  certain  old  classics 
for  which  we  fondly  believe  there  are  no 
substitutes.  You  cannot  always  persuade 
the  children  of  this  generation  to  attack 
"  Robinson  Crusoe,"  and  if  they  do  they  are 
too  sophisticated  to  thrill  properly  when 
they  come  to  Friday's  footsteps  in  the  sand. 
Think  of  it,  my  contemporaries :  think  of 
substituting  for  that  intense  moment  some 
of  the  modern  "tuppenny"  climaxes! 

I  do  not  wish  to  drift  into  a  cheap  cyni 
cism,  and  apotheosize  the  old  days  at  the  ex 
pense  of  the  new.  We  are  often  inclined 
to  paint  the  Past  with  a  halo  round  its  head 
which  it  never  wore  when  it  was  the  Pres 
ent.  We  can  reproduce  neither  the  children 
nor  the  conditions  of  fifty  or  even  twenty- 
five  years  ago.  To-day's  children  must  be 
fitted  for  to-day's  tasks,  educated  to  answer 
to-day's  questions,  equipped  to  solve  to-day's 
problems ;  but  are  we  helping  them  to  do 
this  in  absolutely  the  best  way?  At  all 
events,  it  is  difficult  to  join  in  the  paean  of 
gratitude  for  the  tons  of  children's  books 
that  are  turned  out  yearly  by  parental  pub 
lishers.  If  the  children  of  the  past  did  not 
have  quite  enough  deference  paid  to  their 
individuality,  their  likes  and  dislikes,  and  if 


80  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

their  needs  were  too  often  left  until  the  needs 
of  everybody  else  had  been  considered,  — 
on  the  other  hand,  they  were  not  surfeited 
with  well-meant  but  ill-directed  attentions. 
If  the  hay  was  thrown  so  high  in  the  rack 
that  they  could  not  pluck  a  single  straw  with 
out  stretching  up  for  it,  why,  the  hay  was 
generally  worth  stretching  for,  and  was,  per 
haps,  quite  as  healthful  as  the  sweet  and 
easily  digested  nursery  porridge  which  some 
people  adopt  as  exclusive  diet  for  their  dar 
lings  nowadays. 

Let  us  look  a  little  at  some  of  the  famous 
children's  books  of  a  past  generation,  and 
see  what  was  their  general  style  and  pur 
pose.  Take,  for  instance,  those  of  Mrs. 
Barbauld,  who  may  be  included  in  that 
group  of  men  and  women  who  completely 
altered  the  style  of  teaching  and  writing  for 
children  —  Rousseau,  de  Genlis,  the  Edge- 
worths,  Jacotot,  Froebel,  and  Diesterweg, 
all  great  teachers,  —  didactic,  deadly  -  dull 
Mrs.  Barbauld,  who  composed,  as  one  of  her 
biographers  tells  us,  "  a  considerable  number 
of  miscellaneous  pieces  for  the  instruction 
and  amusement  of  young  persons,  especially 
females."  (Girls  were  always  "young  fe 
males"  in  those  days;  children  were  "in- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  81 

fants,"  and  stories  were  "  tales.")  Who  can 
ever  forget  those  "  Early  Lessons,"  written 
for  her  adopted  son  Charles,  who  appeared 
in  the  page  sometimes  in  a  state  of  hopeless 
ignorance  and  imbecility,  and  sometimes  clad 
in  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients?  The  use  of 
the  offensive  phrase  "  excessively  pretty,"  as 
applied  to  a  lace  tidy  by  a  very  tiny  female 
named  Lucy,  brings  down  upon  her  sinful 
head  eleven  pages  of  such  moralizing  as 
would  only  be  delivered  by  a  modern 
mamma  on  hearing  a  confession  of  robbery 
or  murder. 

All  this  does  strike  us  as  insufferably 
didactic,  yet  we  cannot  approve  the  virulence 
with  which  Southey  and  Charles  Lamb  at 
tacked  good  Mrs.  Barbauld  in  her  old  age  ; 
for  her  purpose  was  eminently  earnest,  her 
views  of  education  healthy  and  sensible  for 
the  time  in  which  she  lived,  her  style  pol 
ished  and  admirably  quiet,  her  love  for 
young  people  indubitably  sincere  and  pro 
found,  and  her  character  worthy  of  all  re 
spect  and  admiration  in  its  dignity,  woman 
liness,  and  strength.  Nevertheless,  Charles 
Lamb  exclaims  in  a  whimsical  burst  of 
spleen  :  "  '  Goody  Two  Shoes  '  is  out  of 
print,  while  Mrs.  Barbauld's  and  Mrs.  Trim- 


82  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

mer's  nonsense  lies  in  piles  around.  Hang 
them  —  the  cursed  reasoning  crew,  those 
blights  and  blasts  of  all  that  is  human  in 
man  and  child." 

Miss  Edgeworth  has  what  seems  to  us,  in 
these  days,  the  same  overplus  of  sublime 
purpose,  and,  though  a  much  greater  writer, 
is  quite  as  desirous  of  being  instructive, 
first,  last,  and  all  the  time,  and  quite  as  un 
able  or  unwilling  to  veil  her  purpose.  No 
books,  however,  have  ever  had  a  more  re 
markable  influence  upon  young  people,  and 
there  are  many  of  them  —  old-fashioned  as 
they  are  -  -  which  the  sophisticated  chil 
dren  of  to-day  could  read  with  pleasure  and 
profit. 

Poor,  naughty  Rosamond  !  choosing  the 
immortal  "  purple  jar  "  out  of  that  apothe 
cary's  window,  instead  of  the  shoes  she 
needed  ;  and  in  a  following  chapter,  after 
pages  of  excellent  maternal  advice,  taking 
the  hideous  but  useful  "  red  morocco  house 
wife"  instead  of  the  coveted  "plum." 

People  may  say  what  they  like  of  Miss 
Edgeworth's  lack  of  proportion  as  a  moral 
ist  and  economist,  but  we  have  few  writers 
for  children  at  present  who  possess  the  prac 
tical  knowledge,  mental  vigor,  and  moral 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  83 

force  which  made  her  an  imposing  figure  in 
juvenile  literature  for  nearly  a  century. 

There  has  never  been  a  time  when  the 
difficulty  of  making  a  good  use  of  books  was 
as  great  as  it  is  to-day,  or  a  time  when  it 
required  so  much  decision  to  make  a  wise 
choice,  simply  because  there  is  so  much 
printed  matter  precipitated  upon  us  that  we 
cannot  "  see  the  wood  for  the  trees." 

It  is  not  my  province  to  discriminate  be 
tween  the  various  writers  for  children  at  the 
present  time.  To  give  a  complete  catalogue 
of  useful  books  for  children  would  be  quite 
impossible  ;  to  give  a  partial  list,  or  endeavor 
to  point  out  what  is  worthy  and  what  un 
worthy,  would  be  little  better.  No  course 
of  reading  laid  down  by  one  person  ever 
suits  another,  and  the  published  "lists  of 
best  books,"  with  their  solemn  platitudes  in 
the  way  of  advice,  are  generally  interesting 
only  in  their  reflection  of  the  writer's  per 
sonality. 

I  would  not  choose  too  absolutely  for  a 
child  save  in  his  earliest  years,  but  would 
rather  surround  him  with  the  best  and  wor 
thiest  books,  and  let  him  choose  for  himself  ; 
for  there  are  elective  affinities  and  antipa 
thies  here  that  need  not  be  disregarded,  — 


84  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

that  are,  indeed,  certain  indications  of  latent 
powers,  and  trustworthy  guides  to  the  child's 
unfolding  possibilities. 

"  Books  can  only  be  profoundly  influential 
as  they  unite  themselves  with  decisive  ten 
dencies."  Provide  the  right  conditions  for 
mental  growth,  and  then  let  the  child  do  the 
growing.  If  we  dictate  too  absolutely,  we 
e?ivelop  instead  of  developing  his  mind,  and 
weaken  his  power  of  choice.  On  the  other 
hand,  we  do  not  wish  his  reading  to  be  par 
tial  or  one-sided,  as  it  may  be  without  intel 
ligent  oversight. 

I  was  telling  bedtime  stories,  the  other 
night,  to  a  proper,  wise,  dull  little  girl  of  ten 
years.  When  I  had  successfully  introduced 
a  mother-cat  and  kittens  to  her  attention,  I 
plunged  into  what  I  thought  a  graphic  and 
perfectly  natural  conversation  between  them, 
when  she  cut  me  short  with  the  observation 
that  she  disliked  stories  in  which  animals 
talked,  because  they  were  not  true !  I  was 
rebuked,  and  tried  again  with  better  success, 
until  there  came  an  unlucky  figure  of 
speech  concerning  a  blossoming  locust-tree, 
that  bent  its  green  boughs  and  laughed  in 
the  summer  sunshine,  because  its  flowers 
were  fragrant  and  lovely,  and  the  world  so 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  85 

green  and  beautiful.  This  she  thought,  on 
sober  second  thought,  a  trifle  silly,  as  trees 
never  did  laugh  !  Now,  that  exasperating 
scrap  of  humanity  (she  is  abnormal,  to  be 
sure)  ought  to  be  locked  up  and  fed  upon 
fairy  tales  until  she  is  able  to  catch  a  faint 
glimpse  of  "  the  light  that  never  was  on  sea 
or  land."  Poor,  blind,  deaf  little  person, 
predestined,  perhaps,  to  be  the  mother  of  a 
lot  of  other  blind,  deaf  little  persons  some 
day,  —  how  I  should  like  to  develop  her 
imagination ! 

Whatever  children  read,  let  us  see  that  it 
is  good  of  its  kind,  and  that  it  gives  variety, 
so  that  no  integral  want  of  human  nature 
shall  be  neglected.  —  so  that  neither  imag 
ination,  memory,  nor  reflection  shall  be 
starved.  I  own  it  is  difficult  to  help  them 
in  their  choice,  when  most  of  us  have  not 
learned  to  choose  wisely  for  ourselves.  A 
discriminating  taste  in  literature  is  not  to  be 
gained  without  effort,  and  our  constant  read 
ing  of  the  little  books  spoils  our  appetite  for 
the  great  ones. 

Style  is  a  matter  of  some  moment,  even 
at  this  early  stage.  Mothers  sometimes  for 
get  that  children  cannot  read  slipshod,  awk 
ward,  redundant  prose,  and  sing-song  vapid 


86  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

verse,  for  ten  or  twelve  years,  and  then  take 
kindly  to  the  best  things  afterward. 

Long  before  a  child  is  conscious  of  such 
a  thing  as  purity,  delicacy,  directness,  or 
strength  of  style,  he  has  been  acted  upon 
unconsciously,  so  that  when  the  period  of 
conscious  choice  comes,  he  is  either  attracted 
or  repelled  by  what  is  good,  according  to  his 
training.  Children  are  fond  of  vivacity  and 
color,  and  love  a  bit  of  word  painting  or 
graceful  nonsense  ;  but  there  are  people  who 
strive  for  this,  and  miss,  after  all,  the  true 
warmth  and  geniality  that  is  most  desira 
ble  for  little  people.  Apropos  of  nonsense, 
we  remember  Leigh  Hunt,  who  says  that 
there  are  two  kinds  of  nonsense,  one  result 
ing  from  a  superabundance  of  ideas,  the 
other  from  a  want  of  them.  Style  in  the 
hands  of  some  writers  is  like  war-paint  to 
the  savage  —  of  no  perceptible  value  unless 
it  is  laid  on  thick.  Our  little  ones  begin 
too  often  on  cheap  and  tawdry  stories  in  one 
or  two  syllables,  where  pictures  in  primary 
colors  try  their  best  to  atone  for  lack  of  mat 
ter.  Then  they  enter  on  a  prolonged  series 
of  children's  books,  some  of  them  written  by 
people  who  have  neither  the  intelligence  nor 
the  literary  skill  to  write  for  a  more  critical 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  87 

audience ;  on  the  same  basis  of  reasoning 
which  puts  the  young  and  inexperienced 
teachers  into  the  lowest  grades,  where  the 
mind  ought  to  be  formed,  and  assigns  to  the 
more  practiced  the  simpler  task  of  inform 
ing  the  already  partially  formed  (or  Re 
formed)  mind. 

There  has  never  been  such  conscientious, 
intelligent,  and  purposeful  work  done  for 
children  as  in  the  last  ten  years ;  and  if  an 
overwhelming  flood  of  trash  has  been  poured 
into  our  laps  along  with  the  better  things, 
we  must  accept  the  inevitable.  The  legends, 
myths,  and  fables  of  the  world,  as  well  as 
its  history  and  romance,  are  being  brought 
within  reach  of  young  readers  by  writers  of 
wide  knowledge  and  trained  skill. 

Knowing,  then,  as  we  do,  the  dangers  and 
obstacles  in  the  way,  and  realizing  the  innu 
merable  inspirations  which  the  best  thought 
gives  to  us,  can  we  not  so  direct  the  reading 
of  our  children  that  our  older  boys  and  girls 
shall  not  be  so  exclusively  modern  in  their 
tastes  ;  so  that  they  may  be  inclined  to  take 
a  little  less  Mr.  Saltus,  a  little  more  Shake 
speare,  temper  their  devotion  to  Mr.  Kipling 
by  small  doses  of  Dante,  forsake  "  The 
Duchess  "  for  a  dip  into  Thackeray,  and  use 


88  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

Hawthorne  as  a  safe  and  agreeable  antidote 
to  Mr.  Haggard  ?  We  need  not  despair  of 
the  child  who  does  not  care  to  read,  for 
books  are  not  the  only  means  of  culture  ; 
but  they  are  a  very  great  means  when  the 
mind  is  really  stimulated,  and  not  simply 
padded  with  them. 

Mr.  Frederic  Harrison  says  :  "  Books  are 
no  more  education  than  laws  are  virtue.  Of 
all  men,  perhaps  the  book-lover  needs  most 
to  be  reminded  that  man's  business  here  is 
to  know  for  the  sake  of  living,  not  to  live 
for  the  sake  of  knowing." 

But  a  child  who  has  no  taste  for  reading, 
who  is  utterly  incapable  of  losing  himself  in 
a  printed  page,  quite  unable  to  forget  his 
childish  griefs, 

"  And  plunge. 

Soul  forward,  headlong1  into  a  book's  profound, 
Impassioned  for  its  beauty  and  salt  of  truth," 

—  such  a  child  is  to  be  pitied  as  missing  one 
of  the  chief  joys  of  life.  Such  a  child  has 
no  dear  old  book-friendships  to  look  back 
upon.  He  has  no  sweet  associations  with 
certain  musty  covers  and  time-worn  pages ; 
no  sacred  memories  of  quiet  moments  when 
a  ne\v  love  of  goodness,  a  new  throb  of  gen 
erosity,  a  new  sense  of  humanity,  were  born 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  89 

in  the  ardent  young  soul ;  born  when  we  had 
turned  the  last  page  of  some  well-thumbed 
volume  and  pressed  our  tear-stained  childish 
cheek  against  the  window  pane,  when  it  was 
growing  dusk  without,  and  a  mother's  voice 
called  us  from  our  shelter  to  "  Lay  the 
book  down,  dear,  and  come  to  tea."  For, 
to  speak  in  better  words  than  my  own,  "  It 
is  the  books  we  read  before  middle  life  that 
do  most  to  mould  our  characters  and  influ 
ence  our  lives ;  and  this  not  only  because 
our  natures  are  then  plastic  and  our  opin 
ions  flexible,  but  also  because,  to  produce 
lasting  impression,  it  is  necessary  to  give  a 
great  author  time  and  meditation.  The 
books  that  are  with  us  in  the  leisure  of 
youth,  that  we  love  for  a  time  not  only 
with  the  enthusiasm,  but  with  something  of 
the  exclusiveness,  of  a  first  love,  are  those 
that  enter  as  factors  forever  in  our  mental 
life." 


CHILDREN'S   STORIES 

'•To  be  a  good  story-teller  b   to  be  a  king-  among 
children." 


CHILDREN'S  STORIES 

THE  business  of  story-telling  is  carried 
on  from  the  soundest  of  economic  motives, 
in  order  to  supply  a  constant  and  growing 
demand.  We  are  forced  to  satisfy  the  cla 
morous  nursery-folk  that  beset  us  on  every 
hand. 

Beside  us  stands  an  eager  little  creature 
quivering  with  expectation,  gazing  with  wide- 
open  eyes,  and  saying  appealingly,  "  Tell  me 
a  story !  "  or  perhaps  a  circle  of  toddlers  is 
gathered  round,  each  one  offering  the  same 
fervent  prayer,  with  so  much  trust  and  con 
fidence  expressed  in  look  and  gesture  that 
none  but  a  barbarian  could  bear  to  disap 
point  it. 

The  story-teller  is  the  children's  special 
property.  When  once  his  gifts  have  been 
found  out,  he  may  bid  good-by  to  his  quiet 
snooze  by  the  fire,  or  his  peaceful  rest  with 
a  favorite  book.  Though  he  hide  in  the  ut 
termost  parts  of  the  house,  yet  will  he  be 
discovered  and  made  to  deliver  up  his  trea- 


94  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

sure.  On  this  one  subject,  at  least,  the  little 
ones  of  the  earth  are  a  solid,  unanimous 
body ;  for  never  yet  was  seen  the  child  who 
did  not  love  the  story  and  prize  the  story 
teller. 

Perhaps  we  never  dreamed  of  practicing 
the  art  of  story-telling  till  we  were  drawn 
into  it  by  the  imperious  commands  of  the 
little  ones  about  us.  It  is  an  untrodden  path 
to  us,  and  we  scarcely  understand  as  yet  its 
difficulties  and  hindrances,  its  breadth  and 
its  possibilities.  Yet  this  eager,  unceasing 
demand  of  the  child-nature  we  must  learn  to 
supply,  and  supply  wisely ;  for  we  must  not 
think  that  all  the  food  we  give  the  little  one 
will  be  sure  to  agree  with  him  because  he 
is  so  hungry.  This  would  be  no  more  true 
of  a  mental  than  of  a  physical  diet. 

What  objects,  then,  shall  our  stories  serve 
beyond  the  important  one  of  pleasing  the 
little  listeners  ?  How  can  we  make  them  dis 
tinctly  serviceable,  filling  the  difficult  and 
well-nigh  impossible  role  of  "  useful  as  well 
as  ornamental "  ? 

There  are,  of  course,  certain  general  bene 
fits  which  the  child  gains  in  the  hearing  of 
all  well-told  stories.  These  are,  familiarity 
with  good  English,  cultivation  of  the  iniagi- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  95 

nation,  development  of  sympathy,  and  clear 
impression  of  moral  truth.  We  shall  find, 
however,  that  all  stories  appropriate  for 
young  children  naturally  divide  themselves 
into  the  following  classes  :  — 

I.  The   purely    imaginative    or    fanciful, 
and 'here  belongs  the  so-called  fairy  story. 

II.  The  realistic,  devoted  to  things  which 
have  happened,  and  might,  could,  would,  or 
should    happen  without  violence   to  proba 
bility.     These  are  generally  the  vehicle  for 
moral  lessons  which  are  all  the  more  impres 
sive  because  not  insisted  on. 

III.  The  scientific,  conveying  bits  of  in 
formation  about  animals,  flowers,  rocks,  and 
stars. 

IV.  The  historical,  or  simple,  interesting 
accounts  of  the  lives  of  heroes  and  events  in 
our  country's  struggle  for  life  and  liberty. 

There  is  a  great  difference  in  opinion 
regarding  the  advisability  of  telling  fairy 
stories  to  very  young  children,  and  there 
can  be  no  question  that  some  of  them  are  en 
tirely  undesirable  and  inappropriate.  Those 
containing  a  fierce  or  horrible  element  must, 
of  course,  be  promptly  ruled  out  of  court, 
including  the  u  bluggy  "  tales  of  cruel  step 
mothers,  ferocious  giants  and  ogres,  which 


96  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

fill  the  so-called  fairy  literature.  Yet  those 
which  are  pure  in  tone  and  gay  with  fanci 
ful  coloring  may  surely  be  told  occasionally, 
if  only  for  the  quickening  of  the  imagina 
tion.  Perhaps,  however,  it  is  best  to  keep 
them  as  a  sort  of  sweetmeat,  to  be  taken  on 
high  days  and  holidays  only. 

Let  us  be  realistic,  by  all  means ;  but  be 
ware,  O  story-teller !  of  being  too  realistic. 
Avoid  the  "  shuddering  tale  "  of  the  wicked 
boy  who  stoned  the  birds,  lest  some  hearer 
be  inspired  to  try  the  dreadful  experiment 
and  see  if  it  really  does  kill.  Tell  not  the 
story  of  the  bears  who  were  set  on  a  hot 
stove  to  learn  to  dance,  for  children  quickly 
learn  to  gloat  over  the  horrible. 

Deal  with  the  positive  rather  than  the 
negative  in  story-telling;  learn  to  affirm, 
not  to  deny. 

Some  one  perhaps  will  say  here,  the  know 
ledge  of  cruelty  and  sin  must  come  some 
time  to  the  child ;  then  why  shield  him  from 
it  now  ?  True,  it  must  come  ;  but  take  heed 
that  you  be  not  the  one  to  introduce  it  arbi 
trarily.  "  Stand  far  off  from  childhood," 
says  Jean  Paul,  "  and  brush  not  away  the 
flower-dust  with  your  rough  fist." 

The  truths  of  botany,  of  mineralogy,  of 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  97 

zoology,  may  be  woven  into  attractive  stories 
which  will  prove  as  interesting  to  the  child 
as  the  most  extravagant  fairy  tale.  But  en 
deavor  to  shape  your  narrative  so  dexterously 
around  the  bit  of  knowledge  you  wish  to 
convey,  that  it  may  be  the  pivotal  point  of 
interest,  that  the  child  may  not  suspect  for  a 
moment  your  intention  of  instructing  him 
under  the  guise  of  amusement.  Should  this 
dark  suspicion  cross  his  mind,  your  power  is 
weakened  from  that  moment,  and  he  will 
look  upon  you  henceforth  as  a  deeply  dyed 
hypocrite. 

The  historic  story  is  easily  told,  and  uni  ver- 
sally  interesting,  if  you  make  it  sufficiently 
clear  and  simple.  The  account  of  the  first 
Thanksgiving  Day,  of  the  discovery  of  Amer 
ica,  of  the  origin  of  Independence  Day,  of  the 
boyhood  of  our  nation's  heroes,  —  all  tjiese 
can  be  made  intelligible  and  charming  to 
children.  I  suggest  topics  dealing  with  our 
own  country  only,  because  the  child  must 
learn  to  know  the  near-at-hand  before  he  can 
appreciate  the  remote.  It  is  best  that  he 
should  gain  some  idea  of  the  growth  of  his 
own  traditions  before  he  wanders  into  the 
history  of  other  lands. 

In  any  story  which  has  to  do  with  soldiers 


98  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

and  battles,  do  not  be  too  martial.  Do  not 
permeate  your  tale  with  the  roar  of  guns, 
the  smell  of  powder,  and  the  cries  of  the 
wounded.  Inculcate  as  much  as  possible  the 
idea  of  a  struggle  for  a  principle,  and  omit 
the  horrors  of  war. 

We  must  remember  that  upon  the  kind  of 
stories  we  tell  the  child  depends  much  of 
his  later  taste  in  literature.  We  can  easily 
create  a  hunger  for  highly  spiced  and  sensa 
tional  writing  by  telling  grotesque  and  hor 
rible  tales  in  childhood.  When  the  little 
one  has  learned  to  read,  when  he  holds  the 
key  to  the  mystery  of  books,  then  he  will 
seek  in  them  the  same  food  which  so  grati 
fied  his  palate  in  earlier  years. 

We  are  just  beginning  to  realize  the  im 
portance  of  beginnings  in  education. 

True,  a  king  of  Israel  whose  wisdom  is 
greatly  extolled,  and  whose  writings  are 
widely  read,  urged  the  importance  of  the 
early  training  of  children  about  three  thou 
sand  years  ago ;  but  the  progress  of  truth 
in  the  world  is  proverbially  slow.  When 
parents  and  teachers,  legislators  and  law 
givers,  are  at  last  heartily  convinced  of  the 
inestimable  importance  of  the  first  six  years 
of  childhood,  then  the  plays  and  occupations 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  99 

of  that  formative  period  of  life  will  no 
longer  be  neglected  or  left  to  chance,  and 
the  exercise  of  story-telling  will  assume  its 
proper  place  as  an  educative  influence. 

Long  ago,  when  I  was  just  beginning  the 
study  of  childhood,  and  when  all  its  possi 
bilities  were  rising  before  me,  "  up,  up,  from 
glory  to  glory,"  —  long  ago,  I  was  asked  to 
give  what  I  considered  the  qualifications  of 
an  ideal  kindergartner. 

My  answer  was  as  follows,  —  brief  per 
haps,  but  certainly  comprehensive  :  — 

The  music  of  St.  Cecilia. 

The  art  of  Raphael. 

The  dramatic  genius  of  Rachel. 

The  administrative  ability  of  Cromwell. 

The  wisdom  of  Solomon. 

The  meekness  of  Moses,  and  — 

The  patience  of  Job. 

Twelve  years'  experience  with  children 
has  not  lowered  my  ideals  one  whit,  nor  led 
me  to  deem  superfluous  any  of  these  quali 
fications  ;  in  fact,  I  should  make  the  list  a 
little  longer  were  I  to  write  it  now,  and 
should  add,  perhaps,  the  prudence  of  Frank 
lin,  the  inventive  power  of  Edison,  and  the 
talent  for  improvisation  of  the  early  Trou 
badours. 


100  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

The  Troubadours,  indeed,  could  they  re 
turn  to  the  earth,  would  wander  about  lonely 
and  un welcomed  till  they  found  home  and 
refuge  in  the  hospitable  atmosphere  of  the 
kindergarten,  —  the  only  spot  in  the  busy 
modern  world  where  delighted  audiences 
still  gather  around  the  professional  story 
teller. 

If  I  were  asked  to  furnish  a  recipe  for 
one  of  these  professional  story-tellers,  these 
spinners  of  childish  narratives,  I  should  sug 
gest  one  measure  of  pure  literary  taste,  two 
of  gesture  and  illustration,  three  of  drama 
tic  fire,  and  four  of  ready  speech  and  clear 
expression.  If  to  these  you  add  a  pinch  of 
tact  and  sympathy,  the  compound  should  be 
a  toothsome  one,  and  certain  to  agree  with 
all  who  taste  it. 

And  now  as  to  the  kind  of  story  our  pro 
fessional  is  to  tell.  In  selecting  this,  the 
first  point  to  consider  is  its  suitability  to  the 
audience.  A  story  for  very  little  ones,  three 
or  four  years  old  perhaps,  must  be  simple, 
bright,  and  full  of  action.  They  do  not  yet 
know  how  to  listen  ;  their  comprehension  of 
language  is  very  limited,  and  their  sympa 
thies  quite  undeveloped.  Nor  are  they  pre 
pared  to  take  wing  with  you  into  the  lofty 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  101 

realms  of  the  imagination :  the  adventures 
of  the  playful  kitten,  of  the  birdling  learn 
ing  to  fly,  of  the  lost  ball,  of  the  faithful 
dog,  —  things  which  lie  within  their  experi 
ence  and  belong  to  the  sweet,  familiar  atmos 
phere  of  the  household,  —  these  they  enjoy 
and  understand. 

It  will  be  found  also  that  the  number  of 
children  to  whom  one  is  talking  is  a  promi 
nent  factor  in  the  problem  of  selecting  a 
story.  Two  or  three  little  ones,  gathered 
close  about  you,  may  pay  strict  attention  to 
a  quiet,  calm,  eventless  history  ;  but  a  circle 
of  twenty  or  thirty  eager,  restless  little  peo 
ple  needs  more  sparkle  and  incident. 

If  one  is  addressing  a  large  number  of 
children,  the  homes  from  which  they  come 
must  be  considered.  Children  of  refined, 
cultivated  parents,  who  have  listened  to 
family  conversation,  who  have  been  talked 
to  and  encouraged  to  express  themselves,  — 
these  are  able  to  understand  much  more 
lofty  themes  than  the  poor  little  mites  who 
are  only  familiar  with  plain,  practical  ideas, 
and  rough  speech  confined  to  the  most  ordi 
nary  wants  of  life. 

And  now,  after  the  story  is  well  selected, 
how  long  shall  it  be  ?  It  is  impossible  to 


102  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

fix  an  exact  limit  to  the  time  it  should  oc 
cupy,  for  much  depends  on  the  age  and  the 
number  of  the  children.  I  am  reminded 
again  of  recipes,  and  of  the  dismay  of  the 
inexperienced  cook  when  she  reads,  "  Stir  in 
flour  enough  to  make  a  stiff  batter."  Alas ! 
how  is  she  who  has  never  made  a  stiff  bat 
ter  to  settle  the  exact  amount  of  flour  nec 
essary  ? 

I  might  give  certain  suggestions  as  to 
time,  such  as,  "  Close  while  the  interest  is 
still  fresh ;  "  or,  "  Do  not  make  the  tale  so 
long  as  to  weary  the  children ; "  but  after 
all,  these  are  only  cook-book  directions.  In 
this,  as  in  many  other  departments  of  work 
with  children,  one  must  learn  in  that  "  dear 
school"  which  "experience  keeps."  Five 
minutes,  however,  is  quite  long  enough  with 
the  babies,  and  you  will  find  that  twice  this 
time  spent  with  the  older  children  will  give 
room  for  a  tale  of  absorbing  interest,  with 
appropriate  introduction  and  artistic  denoue 
ment. 

As  one  of  the  chief  values  of  the  exercise 
is  the  familiarity  with  good  English  which 
it  gives,  I  need  not  say  that  especial  atten 
tion  must  be  paid  to  the  phraseology  in 
which  the  story  is  clothed.  Many  persons 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  103 

who  never  write  ungrammatically  are  in 
accurate  in  speech,  and  the  very  familiarity 
and  ease  of  manner  which  the  story-teller 
must  assume  may  lead  her  into  colloquial 
isms  and  careless  expressions.  Of  course, 
however,  the  language  must  be  simple ;  the 
words,  for  the  most  part,  Saxon.  No  pon 
derous,  Johnsonian  expressions  should  drag 
their  slow  length  through  the  recital,  entan 
gling  in  their  folds  the  comprehension  of 
the  child  ;  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  need  we 
confine  ourselves  to  monosyllables,  adopting 
the  bald  style  of  Primers  and  First  Headers. 
It  is  quite  possible  to  talk  simply  and  yet 
with  grace  and  feeling,  and  we  may  be  sure 
that  children  invariably  appreciate  poetry  of 
expression. 

The  story  should  always  be  accompanied 
with  gestures,  —  simple,  free,  unstudied  mo 
tions,  descriptive,  perhaps,  of  the  sweej^  of 
the  mother  bird's  wings  as  she  soars  away 
from  the  nest,  or  the  waving  of  the  fir-tree's 
branches  as  he  sings  to  himself  in  the  sun 
shine.  This  universal  language  is  under 
stood  at  once  by  the  children,  and  not  only 
serves  as  an  interpreter  of  words  and  ideas, 
but  gives  life  and  attraction  to  the  exer 
cise. 


104  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

Illustrations,  either  impromptu  or  care 
fully  prepared  beforehand,  are  always  hailed 
with  delight  by  the  children.  Nor  need 
you  hesitate  to  try  your  "  'prentice  hand  " 
at  this  work.  Never  mind  if  you  "cannot 
draw."  It  must  be  a  rude  picture,  indeed, 
which  is  not  enjoyed  by  an  audience  of 
little  people.  Their  vivid  imaginations  will 
triumph  over  all  difficulties,  and  enable  them 
to  see  the  ideal  shining  through  the  real. 
It  is  well  now  and  then,  also,  to  have  the 
children  illustrate  the  story.  Their  draw 
ings,  if  executed  quite  without  help,  are 
most  interesting  from  a  psychological  stand 
point,  and  will  afford  great  delight  to  you, 
as  well  as  to  the  little  artists  themselves. 

The  stories  can  also  be  illustrated  with 
clay  modeling,  an  idealized  mud-pie-making 
very  dear  to  children.  They  soon  become 
quit^e  expert  in  moulding  simple  objects,  and 
enjoy  the  work  with  all  the  capacity  of  their 
childish  hearts. 

Now  and  then  encourage  the  little  ones  to 
repeat  what  they  remember  of  the  tale  you 
have  told,  or  to  tell  something  new  on  the 
same  theme.  If  the  story  you  have  given 
has  been  within  their  range  and  on  a  fami 
liar  subject,  a  torrent  of  infantile  reminis- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

cence  will  immediately  gush  forth,  and  you 
will  have  a  miniature  "experience  meeting." 
If  you  have  been  telling  a  dog  story,  for 
instance,  —  "I  hed  a  dog  once't,"  cries 
Jimmy  breathlessly,  and  is  just  about  to  tell 
some  startling  incident  concerning  him, 
when  Nickey  pipes  up,  "  And  so  hed  I,  and 
the  pound  man  tuk  him  ;  "  and  so  on,  all 
around  the  circle  in  the  Free  Kindergarten, 
each  child  palpitating  with  eagerness  to  give 
you  his  bit  of  personal  experience. 

Gather  the  little  ones  as  near  to  you  as 
possible  when  you  are  telling  stories,  the 
tiniest  in  your  lap,  the  others  cuddled  at 
your  knee.  This  is  easily  managed  in  the 
nursery,  but  is  more  difficult  with  a  large 
circle  of  children.  With  the  latter  you  can 
but  seat  yourself  among  the  wee  ones,  confi 
dent  that  the  interest  of  the  story  will  hold 
the  attention  of  the  older  children. 

What  a  happy  hour  it  is,  this  one  of  story 
telling,  dear  and  sacred  to  every  child-lover ! 
What  an  eager,  delightful  audience  are 
these  little  ones,  grieving  at  the  sorrows  of 
the  heroes,  laughing  at  their  happy  suc 
cesses,  breathless  with  anxiety  lest  the  cat 
catch  the  disobedient  mouse,  clapping  hands 
when  the  Ugly  Duckling  is  changed  into 


106  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

the  Swan,  —  all  appreciation,  all  interest,  all 
joy  !  We  might  count  the  rest  of  the  world 
well  lost,  could  we  ever  be  surrounded  by 
such  blooming  faces,  such  loving  hearts,  and 
such  ready  sympathy. 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  KINDER 
GARTEN  TO  SOCIAL  REFORM 

"  New  social  and  individual  wants  demand  new   solu 
tions  of  the  problem  of  education." 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  KINDER 
GARTEN  TO  SOCIAL  REFORM 

"  SOCIAL  reform  !  "  It  is  always  rather 
an  awe-striking  phrase.  It  seems  as  if  one 
ought  to  be  a  philosopher,  even  to  approach 
so  august  a  subject.  The  kindergarten  — 
a  simple  unpretentious  place,  where  a  lot  of 
tiny  children  work  and  play  together;  a 
place  into  which  if  the  hard-headed  man  of 
business  chanced  to  glance,  and  if  he  did  not 
stay  long  enough,  or  come  often  enough, 
would  conclude  that  the  children  were  frit 
tering  away  their  time,  particularly  if  that 
same  good  man  of  business  had  weighed  and 
measured  and  calculated  so  long  that  he 
had  lost  the  seeing  eye  and  understanding 
heart. 

Some  years  ago,  a  San  Francisco  kinder- 
gartner  was  threading  her  way  through  a 
dirty  alley,  making  friendly  visits  to  the 
children  of  her  flock.  As  she  lingered  on 
a  certain  door-step,  receiving  the  last  con 
fidences  of  some  weary  woman's  heart,  she 


110  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

heard  a  loud  but  not  unfriendly  voice  ring 
ing  from  an  upper  window  of  a  tenement- 
house  just  round  the  corner.  "  Clear  things 
from  under  foot !  "  pealed  the  voice,  in  sten 
torian  accents.  "  The  teacher  o'  the  Kids' 
Guards  is  comin'  down  the  street !  " 

"  Eureka !  "  thought  the  teacher,  with  a 
smile.  "  There  's  a  bit  of  sympathetic  trans 
lation  for  you  !  At  last,  the  German  word 
has  been  put  into  the  vernacular.  The  odd, 
foreign  syllables  have  been  taken  to  the 
ignorant  mother  by  the  lisping  child,  and 
the  kinder  partners  have  become  the  Kids'' 
Guards  !  Heaven  bless  the  rough  transla 
tion,  colloquial  as  it  is  !  No  royal  accolade 
could  be  dearer  to  its  recipients  than  this 
quaint,  new  christening  !  " 

What  has  the  kindergarten  to  do  with 
social  reform  ?  What  bearing  have  its  theory 
and  practice  upon  the  conduct  of  life  ? 

A  brass-buttoned  guardian  of  the  peace 
remarked  to  a  gentleman  on  a  street-corner, 
"  If  we  could  open  more  kindergartens,  sir, 
we  could  almost  shut  up  the  penitentiaries, 
sir !  "  We  heard  the  sentiment,  applauded 
it,  and  promptly  printed  it  on  the  cover  of 
three  thousand  reports ;  but  on  calm  reflec 
tion  it  appears  like  an  exaggerated  state- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  111 

ment.  I  am  not  sure  that  a  kindergarten  in 
every  ward  of  every  city  in  America  u  would 
almost  shut  up  the  penitentiaries,  sir  !  "  The 
most  determined  optimist  is  weighed  down 
by  the  feeling  that  it  will  take  more  than 
the  ardent  prosecution  of  any  one  reform, 
however  vital,  to  produce  such  a  result.  We 
appoint  investigating  committees,  who  ask 
more  and  more  questions,  compile  more  and 
more  statistics,  and  get  more  and  more  con 
fused  every  year.  "  Are  our  criminals  na 
tive  or  foreign  born  ?  "  that  we  may  know 
whether  we  are  worse  or  better  than  other- 
people  ?  "  Have  they  ever  learned  a  trade  ?  " 
that  we  may  prove  what  we  already  know, 
that  idle  fingers  are  the  devil's  tools ;  "  Have 
they  been  educated  ?  "  — by  any  one  of  the 
sorry  methods  that  take  shelter  under  that 
much-abused  word,  —  that  we  may  know 
whether  ignorance  is  a  bliss  or  a  blister  ; 
"  Are  they  married  or  single?"  that  we  may 
determine  the  influence  of  home  ties ;  "  Have 
they  been  given  to  the  use  of  liquor  ?  "  that 
we  may  heap  proof  on  proof,  mountain  high, 
against  the  monster  evil  of  intemperance ; 
"  What  has  been  their  family  history  ? " 
that  we  may  know  how  heavily  the  law  of 
heredity  has  laid  its  burdens  upon  them. 


112  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

Burning  questions  all,  if  we  would  find  out 
the  causes  of  crime. 

To  discover  the  why  and  wherefore  of 
things  is  a  law  of  human  thought.  The  re 
form  schools,  penitentiaries,  prisons,  insane 
asylums,  hospitals,  and  poorhouses  are  all 
filled  to  overflowing ;  and  it  is  entirely  sen 
sible  to  inquire  how  the  people  came  there, 
and  to  relieve,  pardon,  bless,  cure,  or  reform 
them  as  far  as  we  can.  Meanwhile,  as  we 
are  dismissing  or  blessing  or  burying  the  un 
fortunates  from  the  imposing  front  gates  of 
our  institutions,  new  throngs  are  crowding 
in  at  the  little  back  doors.  Life  is  a  bridge, 
full  of  gaping  holes,  over  which  we  must 
all  travel !  A  thousand  evils  of  human 
misery  and  wickedness  flow  in  a  dark  cur 
rent  beneath ;  and  the  blind,  the  weak,  the 
stupid,  and  the  reckless  are  continually  fall 
ing  through  into  the  rushing  flood.  We 
must,  it  is  true,  organize  our  life-boats.  It 
is  our  duty  to  pluck  out  the  drowning 
wretches,  receive  their  vows  of  penitence 
and  gratitude,  and  pray  for  courage  and  res 
ignation  when  they  celebrate  their  rescue  by 
falling  in  again.  But  we  agree  nowadays 
that  we  should  do  them  much  better  service 
if  we  could  contrive  to  mend  more  of  the 
holes  in  the  bridge. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  US 

The  kindergarten  is  trying  to  mend  one 
of  these  "  holes."  It  is  a  tiny  one,  only 
large  enough  for  a  child's  foot ;  but  that  is 
our  bit  of  the  world's  work,  —  to  keep  it 
small !  If  we  can  prevent  the  little  people 
from  stumbling,  we  may  hope  that  the  grown 
folks  will  have  a  surer  foot  and  a  steadier 
gait. 

A  wealthy  lady  announced  her  intention 
of  giving  825,000  to  some  Home  for  Incur 
ables.  "  Why,"  cried  a  bright  kindergart- 
ner,  "  dont  you  give  twelve  and  a  half 
thousand  to  some  Home  for  Curables,  and 
then  your  other  twelve  and  a  half  will  go  so 
much  further  ?  " 

In  a  word,  solicitude  for  childhood  is  one 
of  the  signs  of  a  growing  civilization.  u  To 
cure,  is  the  voice  of  the  past ;  to  prevent,  the 
divine  whisper  of  to-day." 

What  is  the  true  relation  of  the  kinder 
garten  to  social  reform?  Evidently,  it  can 
have  no  other  relation  than  that  which  grows 
out  of  its  existence  as  a  plan  of  education. 
Education,  we  have  all  glibly  agreed,  lessens 
the  prevalence  of  crime.  That  sounds  very 
well ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  has  our  past 
system  produced  all  the  results  in  this  direc 
tion  that  we  have  hoped  and  prayed  for  ? 


114  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

The  truth  is,  people  will  not  be  made  much 
better  by  education  until  the  plan  of  educat 
ing  them  is  made  better  to  begin  with. 

Froebel's  idea  —  the  kindergarten  idea  — 
of  the  child  and  its  powers,  of  humanity 
and  its  destiny,  of  the  universe,  of  the  whole 
problem  of  living,  is  somewhat  different 
from  that  held  by  the  vast  majority  of  par 
ents  and  teachers.  It  is  imperfectly  carried 
out,  even  in  the  kindergarten  itself,  where  a 
conscious  effort  is  made,  and  is  infrequently 
attempted  in  the  school  or  family. 
/  His  plan  of  education  covers  the  entire 
period  between  the  nursery  and  the  univer 
sity,  and  contains  certain  essential  features 
which  bear  close  relation  to  the  gravest 
problems  of  the  day.  If  they  could  be 
made  an  integral  part  of  all  our  teaching  in 
families,  schools,  and  institutions,  the  bur 
dens  under  which  society  is  groaning  to-day 
would  fall  more  and  more  lightly  on  each 
succeeding  generation.  These  essential  fea 
tures  have  often  been  enumerated.  I  am  no 
fortunate  herald  of  new  truth.  I  may  not 
even  put  the  old  wine  in  new  bottles ;  but 
iteration  is  next  to  inspiration,  and  I  shall 
give  you  the  result  of  eleven  years'  experi 
ence  among  the  children  and  homes  of  the 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  115 

poorer  classes.  This  experience  has  not  been 
confined  to  teaching.  One  does  not  live 
among  these  people  clay  after  day,  pleading 
for  a  welcome  for  unwished-for  babies,  stand 
ing  beside  tiny  graves,  receiving  pathetic 
confidences  from  wretched  fathers  and  help 
less  mothers,  without  facing  every  problem 
of  this  workaday  world  ;  they  cannot  all  be 
solved,  even  by  the  wisest  of  us;  we  can 
only  seize  the  end  of  the  skein  nearest  to  our 
hand,  and  patiently  endeavor  to  straighten 
the  tangled  threads. 

The  kindergarten  starts  out  plainly  with 
the  assumption  that  the  moral  aim  in  educa 
tion  is  the  absolute  one,  and  that  all  others 
are  purely  relative.  It  endeavors  to  be  a 
life-school,  where  all  the  practices  of  com 
plete  living  are  made  a  matter  of  daily 
habit.  It  asserts  boldly  that  doing  right 
would  not  be  such  an  enormously  difficult 
matter  if  we  practiced  it  a  little,  —  say  a 
tenth  as  much  as  we  practice  the  piano,  — 
and  it  intends  to  give  children  plenty  of  op 
portunity  for  practice  in  this  direction.  It 
says  insistently  and  eternally,  "  Do  noble 
things,  not  dream  them  all  day  long."  For 
development,  action  is  the  indispensable  re 
quisite.  To  develop  moral  feeling  and  the 


116  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

power  and  habit  of  moral  doing  we  must 
exercise  them,  excite,  encourage,  and  guide 
their  action.  To  check,  reprove,  and  punish 
wrong  feeling  and  doing,  however  necessary 
it  be  for  the  safety  and  harmony,  nay,  for 
the  very  existence  of  any  social  state,  does 
not  develop  right  feeling  and  good  doing. 
It  does  not  develop  anything,  for  it  stops 
action,  and  without  action  there  is  no  devel 
opment.  At  best  it  stops  wrong  develop 
ment,  that  is  all. 

In  the  kindergarten,  the  physical,  mental, 
and  spiritual  being  is  consciously  addressed 
at  one  and  the  same  time.  There  is  no 
"  piece-work  "  tolerated.  The  child  is  viewed 
in  his  threefold  relations,  as  the  child  of 
Nature,  the  child  of  Man,  and  the  child  of 
God  ;  there  is  to  be  no  disregarding  any  one 
of  these  divinely  appointed  relations.  It 
endeavors  with  equal  solicitude  to  instill 
correct  and  logical  habits  of  thought,  true 
and  generous  habits  of  feeling,  and  pure  and 
lofty  habits  of  action ;  and  it  asserts  se 
renely  that,  if  information  cannot  be  gained 
in  the  right  way,  it  would  better  not  be 
gained  at  all.  It  has  no  special  hobby,  un 
less  you  would  call  its  eternal  plea  for  the 
all-sided  development  of  the  child  a  hobby. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  117 

Somebody  said  lately  that  the  kindergar 
ten  people  had  a  certain  stock  of  metaphysi 
cal  statements  to  be  aired  on  every  occasion, 
and  that  they  were  over-fond  of  prating 
about  th&  "  being  "  of  the  child.  It  would 
hardly  seem  as  if  too  much  could  be  said  in 
favor  of  the  symmetrical  growth  of  the 
child's  nature.  These  are  not  mere  "  silken 
phrases  ;  "  but,  if  any  one  dislikes  them,  let 
him  take  the  good,  honest,  ringing  charge  of 
Colonel  Parker,  u  Kemember  that  the  whole 
boy  goes  to  school !  " 

Yes,  the  whole  boy  does  go  to  school ;  but 
the  whole  boy  is  seldom  educated  after  he 
gets  there.  A  fraction  of  him  is  attended 
to  in  the  evening,  however,  and  a  fraction 
on  Sunday.  He  takes  himself  in  hand  on 
Saturdays  and  in  vacation  time,  and  accom 
plishes  a  good  deal,  notwithstanding  the  fact 
that  his  sight  is  a  trifle  impaired  already, 
and  his  hearing  grown  a  little  dull,  so  that 
Dame  Nature  works  at  a  disadvantage,  and 
begins,  doubtless,  to  dread  boys  who  have 
enjoyed  too  much  "  schooling,"  since  it 
seems  to  leave  them  in  a  state  of  coma. 

Our  general  scheme  of  education  furthers 
mental  development  with  considerable  suc 
cess.  The  training  of  the  hand  is  now 


118  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

being  laboriously  woven  into  it ;  but,  even 
when,  that  is  accomplished,  we  shall  still  be 
working  with  imperfect  aims,  for  the  stress 
laid  upon  heart-culture  is  as  yet  in  no  way 
commensurate  with  its  gravity.  We  know, 
with  that  indolent,  fruitless  half-knowledge 
that  passes  for  knowing,  that  "  out  of  the 
heart  are  the  issues  of  life."  We  feel,  not 
with  the  white  heat  of  absolute  conviction, 
but  placidly  and  indifferently,  as  becomes 
the  dwellers  in  a  world  of  change,  that 
"  conduct  is  three  fourths  of  life  ; "  but  we 
do  not  crystallize  this  belief  into  action. 
We  "  dream,"  not  "  do  "  the  "  noble  things." 
The  kindergarten  does  not  fence  off  a  half 
hour  each  day  for  moral  culture,  but  keeps 
it  in  view  every  moment  of  every  day.  Yet  it 
is  never  obtrusive  ;  for  the  mental  faculties 
are  being  addressed  at  the  same  time,  and 
the  body  strengthened  for  its  special  work. 

With  the  methods  generally  practiced  in 
the  family  and  school,  I  fail  to  see  how  we 
can  expect  any  more  delicate  sense  of  right 
and  wrong,  any  clearer  realization  of  duty, 
any  greater  enlightenment  of  conscience,  any 
higher  conception  of  truth,  than  we  now 
find  in  the  world.  I  care  not  what  view  you 
take  of  humanity,  whether  you  have  Calvin- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHT*  119 

istic  tendencies  and  believe  in  the  total  de 
pravity  of  infants,  or  whether  you  are  a  dis 
ciple  of  Wordsworth  and  apostrophize  the 
child  as  a 

"  Mighty  prophet !     Seer  blest, 
On  whom  those  truths  do  rest 
Which  we  are  toiling  all  our  lives  to  find  ;  " 

if  you  are  a  fair-minded  man  or  woman,  and 
have  had  much  experience  with  young  chil 
dren,  you  will  be  compelled  to  confess  that 
they  generally  have  a  tolerably  clear  sense 
of  right  and  wrong,  needing  only  gentle 
guidance  to  choose  the  right  when  it  is  put 
before  them.  I  say  most,  not  all,  children  ; 
for  some  are  poor,  blurred  human  scrawls, 
blotted  all  over  with  the  mistakes  of  other 
people.  And  how  do  we  treat  this  natural 
sense  of  what  is  true  and  good,  this  willing 
ness  to  choose  good  rather  than  evil,  if  it 
is  made  even  the  least  bit  comprehensible 
and  attractive  ?  In  various  ways,  all  equally 
dull,  blind,  and  vicious.  If  we  look  at 
the  downright  ethical  significance  of  the 
methods  of  training  and  discipline  in  many 
families  and  schools,  we  see  that  they  are 
positively  degrading.  We  appoint  more  and 
more  "monitors"  instead  of  training  the  "in 
ward  monitor  "  in  each  child,  make  truth- 


120  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

telling  difficult  instead  of  easy,  punish  tri 
vial  and  grave  offenses  about  in  the  same 
way,  practice  open  bribery  by  promising 
children  a  few  cents  a  day  to  behave  them 
selves,  and  weaken  their  sense  of  right  by 
giving  them  picture  cards  for  telling  the 
truth  and  credits  for  doing  the  most  obvious 
duty.  This  has  been  carried  on  until  we 
are  on  the  point  of  needing  another  Deluge 
and  a  new  start. 

Is  it  strange  that  we  find  the  moral  sense 
blunted,  the  conscience  unenlightened  ?  The 
moral  climate  with  which  we  surround  the 
child  is  so  hazy  that  the  spiritual  vision 
grows  dimmer  and  dimmer,  —  and  small 
wonder !  Upon  this  solid  mass  of  ignorance 
and  stupidity  it  is  difficult  to  make  any  im 
pression  ;  yet  I  suppose  there  is  greater  joy 
in  heaven  over  a  cordial  "thwack"  at  it 
than  over  most  blows  at  existing  evils. 

The  kindergarten  attempts  a  rational,  re 
spectful  treatment  of  children,  leading  them 
to  do  right  as  much  as  possible  for  right's 
sake,  abjuring  all  rewards  save  the  pleasure 
of  working  for  others  and  the  delight  that 
follows  a  good  action,  and  all  punishments 
save  those  that  follow  as  natural  penalties 
of  broken  laws,  —  the  obvious  consequences 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  121 

of  the  special  bit  of  wrong-doing,  whatever 
it  may  be.  The  child's  will  is  addressed  in 
such  a  way  as  to  draw  it  on,  if  right ;  to 
turn  it  willingly,  if  wrong.  Coercion  in  the 
sense  of  fear,  personal  magnetism,  nay,  even 
the  child's  love  for  the  teacher,  may  be  used 
in  such  a  way  as  to  weaken  his  moral  force. 
With  every  free,  conscious  choice  of  right,  a 
human  being's  moral  power  and  strength  of 
character  increase ;  and  the  converse  of  this 
is  equally  true. 

If  the  child  is  unruly  in  play,  he  leaves 
the  circle  and  sits  or  stands  by  himself,  a 
miserable,  lonely  unit  until  he  feels  again  in 
sympathy  with  the  community.  If  he  de 
stroys  his  work,  he  unites  the  tattered  frag 
ments  as  best  he  may,  and  takes  the  moral 
object  lesson  home  with  him.  If  he  has 
neglected  his  own  work,  he  is  not  given  the 
joy  of  working  for  others.  If  he  does  not 
work  in  harmony  with  his  companions,  a 
time  is  chosen  when  he  will  feel  the  sense  of 
isolation  that  comes  from  not  living  in  unity 
with  the  prevailing  spirit  of  good  will.  He 
can  have  as  much  liberty  as  is  consistent 
with  the  liberty  of  other  people,  but  no 
more.  If  we  could  infuse  the  spirit  of  this 
kind  of  discipline  into  family  and  school 


122  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

life,  making  it  systematic  and  continuous 
from  the  earliest  years,  there  would  be  fewer 
morally  "slack-twisted"  little  creatures  grow 
ing  up  into  inefficient,  bloodless  manhood 
and  womanhood.  It  would  be  a  good  deal 
of  trouble ;  but  then,  life  is  a  good  deal  of 
trouble  anyway,  if  you  come  to  that.  We 
cannot  expect  to  swallow  the  universe  like  a 
pill,  and  travel  on  through  the  world  "  like 
smiling  images  pushed  from  behind." 

Blind  obedience  to  authority  is  not  in 
itself  moral.  It  is  necessary  as  a  part  of 
government.  It  is  necessary  in  order  that 
we  may  save  children  dangers  of  which 
they  know  nothing.  It  is  valuable  also  as  a 
habit.  But  I  should  never  try  to  teach  it 
by  the  story  of  that  inspired  idiot,  the  boy 
who  "  stood  on  the  burning  deck,  whence  all 
but  him  had  fled,"  and  from  whence  he 
would  have  fled  if  his  mental  endowment 
had  been  that  of  ordinary  boys.  For  obedi 
ence  must  not  be  allowed  to  destroy  com 
mon  sense  and  the  feeling  of  personal  re 
sponsibility  for  one's  own  actions.  Our  task 
is  to  train  responsible,  self-directing  agents, 
not  to  make  soldiers. 

Virtue  thrives  in  a  bracing  moral  atmos 
phere,  where  good  actions  are  taken  rather 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  123 

as  a  matter  of  course.  The  attempt  to  in 
still  an  idea  of  self-government  into  the  tiny 
slips  of  humanity  that  find  their  way  into  the 
kindergarten  is  useful,  and  infinitely  to  be 
preferred  to  the  most  implicit  obedience  to 
arbitrary  command.  In  the  one  case,  we 
may  hope  to  have,  some  time  or  other,  an 
enlightened  will  and  conscience  struggling 
after  the  right,  failing  often,  but  rising  su 
perior  to  failure,  because  of  an  ever  stronger 
joy  in  right  and  shame  for  wrong.  In  the 
other,  we  have  a  "good  goose,"  who  does 
the  right  for  the  picture  card  that  is  set  be 
fore  him,  —  a  "  trained  dog  "  sort  of  child, 
who  will  not  leap  through  the  hoop  unless 
he  sees  the  whip  or  the  lump  of  sugar.  So 
much  for  the  training  of  the  sense  of  right 
and  wrong  !  Now  for  the  provision  which 
the  kindergarten  makes  for  the  growth  of 
certain  practical  virtues,  much  needed  in 
the  world,  but  touched  upon  all  too  lightly 
in  family  and  school. 

The  student  of  political  economy  sees 
clearly  enough  the  need  of  greater  thrift 
and  frugality  in  the  nation ;  but  where  and 
when  do  we  propose  to  develop  these  vir 
tues  ?  Precious  little  time  is  given  to  them 
in  most  schools,  for  their  cultivation  does  not 


124  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

yet  seem  to  be  insisted  upon  as  an  integral 
part  of  the  scheme.  Here  and  there  an  in 
spired  human  being  seizes  on  the  thought 
that  the  child  should  really  be  taught  how 
to  live  at  some  time  between  the  ages  of  six 
and  sixteen,  or  he  may  not  learn  so  easily 
afterward.  Accordingly,  the  pupils  under 
the  guidance  of  that  particular  person  catch 
a  glimpse  of  eternal  verities  between  the 
printed  lines  of  their  geographies  and  gram 
mars.  The  kindergarten  makes  the  growth 
of  every-day  virtues  so  simple,  so  gradual, 
even  so  easy,  that  you  are  almost  beguiled 
into  thinking  them  commonplace.  They 
seem  to  come  in,  just  by  the  way,  as  it  were, 
so  that  at  the  end  of  the  day  you  have  seen 
thought  and  word  and  deed  so  sweetly  min 
gled  that  you  marvel  at  the  "  universal 
dovetailedness  of  things,"  as  Dickens  puts 
it.  They  will  flourish  better  in  the  school, 
too,  when  the  cheerful  hum  of  labor  is  heard 
there  for  a  little  while  each  day.  The  kin 
dergarten  child  has  "  just  enough  "  strips 
for  his  weaving  mat,  —  none  to  lose,  none  to 
destroy  ;  just  enough  blocks  in  each  of  his 
boxes,  and  every  one  of  them,  he  finds,  is 
required  to  build  each  simple  form.  He  cuts 
his  square  of  paper  into  a  dozen  crystal- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  125 

shaped  bits,  and  behold  !  each  one  of  these 
tiny  flakes  is  needed  to  make  a  symmetrical 
figure.  Pie  has  been  careless  in  following 
directions,  and  his  form  of  folded  paper 
does  not  "  come  out "  right.  It  is  not  even, 
and  it  is  not  beautiful.  The  false  step  in 
the  beginning  has  perpetuated  itself  in  each 
succeeding  one,  until  at  the  end  either  par 
tial  success  or  complete  failure  meets  his 
eye.  How  easy  here  to  see  the  relation  of 
cause  to  effect !  "  Courage  !  "  says  the  kin- 
dergartner ;  "  better  fortune  next  time,  for 
we  will  take  greater  pains."  "  Can  you  rub 
out  the  ugly,  wrong  creases  ?  "  "  We  will 
try.  Alas,  no!  Wrong  things  are  not  so 
easily  rubbed  out,  are  they?"  "Use  your 
worsted  quite  to  the  end,  dear :  it  costs 
money."  "  Let  us  save  all  the  crumbs  from 
our  lunch  for  the  birds,  children  ;  do  not 
drop  any  on  the  floor:  it  will  only  make 
work  for  somebody  else."  And  so  on,  to 
the  end  of  the  busy,  happy  day.  How  easy 
it  is  in  the  kindergarten,  how  seemingly  dif 
ficult  later  on  !  It  seems  to  be  only  books 
afterward ;  anc^  "  books  are  good  enough  in 
their  own  way,  but  they  are  a  mighty  blood 
less  substitute  for  life." 

The  most  superficial  observer  values  the 


126  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

industrial  side  of  the  kindergarten,  because 
it  falls  directly  in  line  with  the  present  ef 
fort  to  make  some  manual  training-  a  part  of 
school  work  ;  but  twenty  or  twenty-five  years 
ago,  when  the  subject  was  not  so  popular, 
kindergarten  children  were  working  away  at 
their  pretty,  useful  tasks,  —  tiny  missiona 
ries  helping  to  show  the  way  to  a  truth  now 
fully  recognized.  As  to  the  value  of  lead 
ing  children  to  habits  of  industry  as  early 
in  life  as  may  be,  that  they  may  see  the  dig 
nity  and  nobleness  of  labor,  and  conceive  of 
their  individual  responsibilities  in  this  world 
of  action,  that  is  too  obvious  to  dwell  upon 
at  this  time. 

To  Froebel,  life,  action,  and  knowledge 
were  the  three  notes  of  one  harmonious 
chord ;  but  he  did  not  advocate  manual 
training  merely  that  children  might  be  kept 
busy,  nor  even  that  technical  skill  might  be 
acquired.  The  piece  of  finished  kinder 
garten  work  is  only  a  symbol  of  something 
more  valuable  which  the  child  has  acquired 
in  doing  it. 

The  first  steps  in  all  the  kindergarten  oc 
cupations  are  directed  or  suggested  by  the 
teacher ;  but  these  dictations  or  suggestions 
are  merely  intended  to  serve  as  a  sort  of 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHT*  IL'7 

staff,  by  which  the  child  can  steady  himself 
until  he  can  walk  alone.  It  is  always  the 
creative  instinct  that  is  to  be  reached  and 
vivified  :  everything  else  is  secondary.  By 
reproduction  from  memory  of  a  dictated 
form,  by  taking  from  or  adding  to  it,  by 
changing  its  centre,  corners,  or  sides,  —  by 
a  dozen  ingenious  preliminary  steps,  —  the 
child's  inventive  faculty  is  developed  ;  and 
he  soon  reaches  a  point  in  drawing,  build 
ing,  modeling,  or  what  not,  where  his  great 
est  delight  is  to  put  his  individual  ideas  into 
visible  shape.  The  simple  request,  "  Make 
something  pretty  of  your  own,"  brings  a 
score  of  original  combinations  and  designs, 
—  either  the  old  thoughts  in  different  shape 
or  something  fresh  and  audacious  which 
hints  of  genius.  Instead  of  twenty  hack 
neyed  and  slavish  copies  of  one  pattern,  we 
have  twenty  free,  individual  productions, 
each  the  expression  of  the  child's  inmost 
personal  thought.  This  invests  labor  with  a 
beauty  and  power,  and  confers  upon  it  a 
dignity,  to  be  gained  in  no  other  way.  It 
makes  every  task,  however  lowly,  a  joy,  be 
cause  all  the  higher  faculties  are  brought  into 
action.  Much  so-called  "  busy  work,"  where 
pupils  of  the  "  A  class  "  are  allowed  to  stick 


128  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

a  thousand  pegs  in  a  thousand  holes  while 
the  "  B  class  "  is  reciting  arithmetic,  is  quite 
fruitless,  because  it  has  so  little  thought 
behind  it. 

Unless  we  have  a  care,  manual  training, 
when  we  have  succeeded  in  getting  it  into 
the  school,  may  become  as  mechanical  and 
unprofitable  as  much  of  our  mind  training 
has  been,  and  its  moral  value  thus  largely 
missed.  The  only  way  to  prevent  it  is  to 
borrow  a  suggestion  from  Froebel.  Then, 
and  only  then,  shall  we  have  insight  with 
power  of  action,  knowledge  with  practice, 
practice  with  the  stamp  of  individuality. 
Then  doing  will  blossom  into  being,  and 
"  Being  is  the  mother  of  all  the  little  doings 
as  well  as  of  the  grown-up  deeds  and  heroic 
sacrifices." 

The  kindergarten  succeeds  in  getting 
these  interesting  and  valuable  free  produc 
tions  from  children  of  four  or  five  years 
only  by  developing,  in  every  possible  way,1 
the  sense  of  beauty  and  harmony  and  order.^ 
We  know  that  people  assume,  somewhat  at 
least,  the  color  of  their  surroundings  ;  and, 
if  the  sense  of  beauty  is  to  grow,  we  must 
give  it  something  to  feed  upon. 

The  kindergarten  tries  to  provide  a  room, 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  129 

more  or  less  attractive,  quantities  of  pic 
tures  and  objects  of  interest,  growing  plants 
and  vines,  vases  of  flowers,  and  plenty  of 
light,  air,  and  sunshine.  A  canary  chirps 
in  one  corner,  perhaps ;  and  very  likely 
there  will  be  a  cat  curled  up  somewhere,  or 
a  forlorn  dog  which  has  followed  the  chil 
dren  into  this  safe  shelter.  It  is  a  pretty, 
pleasant,  domestic  interior,  charming  and 
grateful  to  the  senses.  The  kindergartner 
looks  as  if  she  were  glad  to  be  there,  and 
the  children  are  generally  smiling.  Every 
body  seems  alive.  The  work,  lying  cosily 
about,  is  neat,  artistic,  and  suggestive.  The 
children  pass  out  of  their  seats  to  the  cheer 
ful  sound  of  music,  and  are  presently  join 
ing  in  an  ideal  sort  of  game,  where,  in  place 
of  the  mawkish  sentimentality  of  "  Sally 
Walker,"  of  obnoxious  memory,  we  see  all 
sorts  of  healthful,  poetic,  childlike  fancies 
woven  into  song.  Rudeness  is,  for  the  most 
part,  banished.  The  little  human  butter 
flies  and  bees  and  birds  flit  hither  and  thither 
in  the  circle  ;  the  make-believe  trees  hold 
up  their  branches,  and  the  flowers  their 
cups ;  and  everybody  seems  merry  and  con 
tent.  As  they  pass  out  the  door,  good-bys 
and  bows  and  kisses  are  wafted  backward 


130  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

into  the  room  ;  for    the  manners  of  polite 
society  are  observed  in  everything. 

You  draw  a  deep  breath.  This  is  a  real 
kindergarten,  and  it  is  like  a  little  piece  of 
the  millennium.  "  Everything  is  so  very 
pretty  and  charming,"  says  the  visitor.  Yes, 
so  it  is.  But  all  this  color,  beauty,  grace, 
symmetry,  daintiness,  delicacy,  and  refine 
ment,  though  it  seems  to  address  and  de 
velop  the  aesthetic  side  of  the  child's  nature, 
has  in  reality  a  very  profound  ethical  signifi 
cance.  We  have  all  seen  the  preternatural 
virtue  of  the  child  who  wears  her  best  dress, 
hat,  and  shoes  on  the  same  august  occasion. 
Children  are  tidier  and  more  careful  in  a 
dainty,  well-kept  room.  They  treat  pretty 
materials  more  respectfully  than  ugly  ones. 
They  are  inclined  to  be  ashamed,  at  least  in 
a  slight  degree,  of  uncleanliness,  vulgarity, 
and  brutality,  when  they  see  them  in  broad 
contrast  with  beauty  and  harmony  and 
order.  For  the  most  part,  they  try  "  to  live 
up  to  "  the  place  in  which  they  find  them 
selves.  There  is  some  connection  between 
manners  and  morals.  It  is  very  elusive  and, 
perhaps,  not  very  deep  ;  but  it  exists.  Vice 
does  not  flourish  alike  in  all  conditions  and 
localities,  by  any  means.  An  ignorant  negro 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  131 

was  overheard  praying,  "  Let  me  so  lib  clat 
when  I  die  I  may  hab  manners,  dat  I  may 
know  what  to  say  when  I  see  my  heabenly 
Lord !  "  Well,  I  dare  say  we  shall  need 
good  manners  as  well  as  good  morals  in 
heaven  ;  and  the  constant  cultivation  of  the 
one  from  right  motives  might  give  us  an  un 
expected  impetus  toward  the  other.  If  the 
systematic  development  of  the  sense  of  beauty 
and  order  has  an  ethical  significance,  so  has 
the  happy  atmosphere  of  the  kindergarten 
an  influence  in  the  same  direction. 

I  have  known  one  or  two  "  solid  men  " 
and  one  or  two  predestinate  spinsters  who 
said  that  they  did  n't  believe  children  could 
accomplish  anything  in  the  kindergarten, 
because  they  had  too  good  a  time.  There  is 
something  uniquely  vicious  about  people  who 
care  nothing  for  children's  happiness.  That 
sense  of  the  solemnity  of  mortal  conditions 
which  has  been  indelibly  impressed  upon  us 
by  our  Puritan  ancestors  comes  soon  enough, 
Heaven  knows !  Meanwhile,  a  happy  child 
hood  is  an  unspeakably  precious  memory. 
We  look  back  upon  it  and  refresh  our  tired 
hearts  with  the  vision  when  experience  has 
cast  a  shadow  over  the  full  joy  of  living. 

The  sunshiny  atmosphere  of  a  good  kinder- 


132  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

garten  gives  the  young  human  plants  an  im 
pulse  toward  eager,  vigorous  growth.  Love's 
warmth  surrounds  them  on  every  side,  woo 
ing  their  sweetest  possibilities  into  life. 
Roots  take  a  firmer  grasp,  buds  form,  and 
flowers  bloom  where,  under  more  unfriendly 
conditions,  bare  stalks  or  pale  leaves  would 
greet  the  eye,  —  pathetic,  unfulfilled  prom 
ises,  —  souls  no  happier  for  having  lived  in 
the  world,  the  world  no  happier  because  of 
their  living.  "  Virtue  kindles  at  the  touch 
of  joy."  The  kindergarten  takes  this  for 
one  of  its  texts,  and  does  not  breed  that 
dismal  fungus  of  the  mind  "  which  disposes 
one  to  believe  that  the  pursuit  of  knowledge 
must  necessarily  be  disagreeable." 

The  social  phase  of  the  kindergarten  is 
most  interesting  to  the  student  of  social 
economics.  Cooperative  work  is  strongly 
emphasized ;  and  the  child  is  inspired  both 
to  live  his  own  full  life,  and  yet  to  feel  that 
his  life  touches  other  lives  at  every  point,  — 
"  for  we  are  members  one  of  another."  It 
is  not  the  unity  of  the  "  little  birds,"  in  the 
couplet,  who  u  agree  "  in  their  "  little  nests," 
because  "  they  'd  fall  out  if  they  did  n't," 
but  a  realization,  in  embryo,  of  the  divine 
principle  that  no  man  liveth  to  himself. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  133 

As  to  specifically  religious  culture,  every 
thing  fosters  the  spirit  out  of  which  true 
religion  grows. 

In  the  morning  talks,  when  the  children 
are  most  susceptible  and  ready  to  "be 
good,"  as  they  say,  their  thoughts  are  led 
to  the  beauty  of  the  world  about  them,  the 
pleasure  of  right  doing,  the  sweetness  of 
kind  thoughts  and  actions,  the  loveliness  of 
truth,  patience,  and  helpfulness,  and  the 
goodness  of  the  Creator  to  all  created 
things.  No  parent,  of  whatever  creed  or 
lack  of  creed,  whether  a  bigot  or  unbeliever, 
could  object  to  the  kind  of  religious  instruc 
tion  given  in  the  kindergarten ;  and  yet  in 
every  possible  way  the  child-soul  and  the 
child-heart  are  directed  towards  everything 
that  is  pure  and  holy,  true  and  steadfast. 

If  the  child  love  not  his  brother  whom  he 
hath  seen,  how  can  he  love  God  whom  he 
hath  not  seen?  "Love  worketh  no  ill  to 
his  neighbor,  therefore  love  is  the  fulfilling 
of  the  law."  There  is  a  vast  deal  of  practi 
cal  religion  to  be  breathed  into  these  little 
children  of  the  street  before  the  abstractions 
of  beliefs  can  be  comprehended.  They  can 
not  live  on  words  and  prayers  and  texts,  the 
thought  and  feeling  must  come  before  the 


134  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

expression.  As  Mrs.  Whitney  says,  "  The 
world  is  determined  to  vaccinate  children 
with  religion  for  fear  they  should  take  it  in 
the  natural  way." 

Some  wise  sayings  of  the  good  Dr.  Hol 
land,  in  "  Nicholas  Minturn,"  come  to  me  as 
I  write.  Nicholas  says,  in  discussing  this 
matter  of  charities,  and  the  various  means 
of  effecting  a  radical  cure  of  pauperism, 
rather  than  its  continual  alleviation  :  "  If 
you  read  the  parable  of  the  Sower,  I  think 
that  you  will  find  that  soil  is  quite  as  neces 
sary  as  seed  —  indeed,  that  the  seed  is 
thrown  away  unless  a  soil  is  prepared  in  ad 
vance.  ...  I  believe  in  religion,  but  before 
I  undertake  to  plant  it,  I  would  like  some 
thing  to  plant  it  in.  The  sowers  are  too 
few,  and  the  seed  is  too  precious  to  be 
thrown  away  and  lost  among  the  thorns  and 
stones." 

Last,  but  by  no  means  least,  the  admira 
ble  physical  culture  that  goes  on  in  the  kin 
dergarten  is  all  in  the  right  direction.  Phy 
siologists  know  as  much  about  morality  as 
ministers  of  the  gospel.  The  vices  which 
drag  men  and  women  into  crime  spring  as 
often  from  unhealthy  bodies  as  from  weak 
wills  and  callous  consciences.  Vile  fancies 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  135 

and  sensual  appetites  grow  stronger  and 
more  terrible  when  a  feeble  physique  and 
low  vitality  offer  no  opposing  force.  Deadly 
vices  are  nourished  in  the  weak,  diseased 
bodies  that  are  penned,  day  after  day,  in 
filthy,  crowded  tenements  of  great  cities. 
If  we  could  withdraw  every  three-year-old 
child  from  these  physically  enfeebling  and 
morally  brutalizing  influences,  and  give 
them  three  or  four  hours  a  day  of  sunshine, 
fresh  air,  and  healthy  physical  exercise,  we 
should  be  doing  humanity  an  inestimable 
service,  even  if  we  attempted  nothing  more. 
I  have  tried,  as  briefly  as  I  might  in 
justice  to  the  subject,  to  emphasize  the  fol 
lowing  points  :  — 

I.  That  we  must  act  up  to  our  convic 
tions  with  regard  to  the  value  of  preventive 
work.     If  we  are  ever  obliged  to  choose,  let 
us  save  the  children. 

II.  That  the  relation  of  the  kindergarten 
to  social  reform  is  simply  that,  as  a  plan  of 
education,  it  offers  us  valuable  suggestions 
in  regard  to  the  mental,  moral,  and  physical 
culture  of  children,  which,  in  view  of  certain 
crying  evils  of  the  day,  \ve  should  do  well  to 
follow. 

The  essential  features  of  the  kindergarten 


136  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

which  bear  a  special  relation  to  the  subject 
are  as  follows  :  — 

1.  The   symmetrical  development    of  the 
child's  powers,  considering  him  neither  as 
all  mind>  all  soul,  nor  all  body;  but  as   a 
creature   capable   of    devout   feeling,    clear 
thinking,  noble  doing. 

2.  The  attempt  to  make  so-called  "  moral 
culture"  a  little  less  immoral;  the  rational 
method  of  discipline,  looking  to  the  growth 
of  moral,  self-directing  power  in  the  child, 
—  the  only  proper  discipline  for  future  citi 
zens  of  a  free  republic. 

3.  The  development  of   certain  practical 
virtues,  the   lack  of   which   is    endangering 
the  prosperity  of  the  nation  ;  namely,  econ 
omy,  thrift,  temperance,    self-reliance,    fru 
gality,  industry,  courtesy,  and  all  the  sober 
host, — none  of  them  drawing-room  accom 
plishments,  and  consequently  in  small  de 
mand. 

4.  The    emphasis   placed    upon    manual 
training,  especially  in  its  development  of  the 
child's  creative  activity. 

5.  The   training  of  the  sense  of  beauty, 
harmony,  and  order ;  its  ethical  as  well  as 
sesthetical  significance. 

6.  The  insistence  upon  the  moral  effect 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  137 

of  happiness ;  joy  the  favorable  climate  of 
childhood. 

7.  The  training  of  the  child's  social  na 
ture  ;  an  attempt  to  teach  the  brotherhood 
of  man  as  well  as  the  Fatherhood  of  God. 

8.  The  realization    that  a   healthy    body 
has  almost  as  great  an  influence  on  morals 
as  a  pure  mind. 

I  do  not  say  that  the  consistent  practice 
of  these  principles  will  bring  the  millen 
nium  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  but  I  do 
affirm  that  they  are  the  thought-germs  of 
that  better  education  which  shall  prepare 
humanity  for  the  new  earth  over  which  shall 
arch  the  new  heaven. 

Ruskin  says,  "  Crime  can  only  be  truly 
hindered  by  letting  no  man  grow  up  a  crim 
inal,  by  taking  away  the  will  to  commit 
sin !  "  But,  you  object,  that  is  sheer  impos 
sibility.  It  does  seem  so,  I  confess,  and  yet, 
unless  you  are  willing  to  think  that  the 
whole  plan  of  an  Omnipotent  Being  is  to  be 
utterly  overthrown,  set  aside,  thwarted,  then 
you  must  believe  this  ideal  possible,  some 
how,  sometime. 

I  know  of  no  better  way  to  grow  to 
wards  it  than  by  living  up  to  the  kinder 
garten  idea,  that  just  as  we  gain  intellectual 


138  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

power  by  doing  intellectual  work,  and  the 
finest  aesthetic  feeling  by  creating  beauty,  so 
shall  we  win  for  ourselves  the  power  of 
feeling  nobly  and  willing  nobly  by  doing 
"  noble  things." 


HOW    SHALL    WE    GOVERN    OUR 
CHILDREN? 

*:  Not  the  cry,"  says  a  Chinese  author,  "  but  the  rising 
of  a  wild  duck,  impels  the  flock  to  follow  him  in  upward 
flight." 


HOW  SHALL  WE  GOVERN  OUR 
CHILDREN?     • 

LONG  ago,  in  a  far-off  country,  a  child 
was  born ;  and  when  his  parents  looked  on 
him  they  loved  him,  and  they  resolved  in 
their  simple  hearts  to  make  of  him  a  strong, 
brave,  warlike  man.  But  the  God  of  that 
country  was  a  hungry  and  an  insatiable  God, 
and  he  cried  out  for  human  sacrifice  ;  so, 
when  his  arms  had  been  thrice  heated  till 
they  glowed  red  with  the  flame  of  the  fire, 
the  mother  cradled  her  child  in  them,  and 
his  life  exhaled  as  a  vapor. 

A  child  was  born  in  another  country,  and 
the  tender  eyes  of  his  mother  saw  that  his 
limbs  were  misshapen  and  his  life-blood  a 
sickly  current.  Yet  her  heart  yearned  over 
him,  and  she  would  have  tended  and  trained 
him  and  loved  him  better  than  all  the  rest 
of  her  strong,  well-favored  brood  ;  but  when 
the  elders  of  her  people  knew  that  the  child 
was  a  weakling,  they  decreed  that  he  should 


142  CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS 

die,  and  she  bent  her  head  to  the  law,  which 
was  stronger  than  her  love. 

In  a  third  land  a  child  was  to  be  born, 
and  the  proud  father  made  ready  gifts, 
and  purchased  silken  robes,  and  prepared  a 
feast  for  his  friends  ;  but,  alas !  when  the 
longed-for  soul  entered  the  world  it  was 
housed  in  a  woman-child's  body,  and  straight 
way  the  joy  was  changed  into  mourning. 
Bitter  reproaches  were  heaped  upon  the 
mother,  for  were  there  not  enough  women 
already  on  the  earth  ?  and  the  fiat  went  forth 
that  the  babe  should  straightway  be  delivered 
from  the  trials  of  existence.  So,  while  its 
hold  on  life  was  yet  uncertain,  the  husband's 
mother  placed  wet  cloths  upon  its  lips,  and 
soon  the  faint  breath  stopped,  and  the  white 
soul  went  fluttering  heavenward  again. 

In  still  another  of  God's  fair  lands  a  child 
entered  the  world,  and  lie  grew  toward  man 
hood  vigorous  and  lusty  ;  but  he  heeded  not 
his  parents'  commands,  and  when  his  dis 
obedience  had  been  long  continued,  the  fa 
thers  of  the  tribe  decreed  that  he  should  be 
stoned  to  death,  for  so  it  was  written  in  the 
sacred  books.  And  as  the  youth  was  the 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  143 

absolute  property  of  his  parents,  and  as  by 
common  consent  they  had  full  liberty  to  deal 
with  him  as  seemed  good  to  them,  they  con 
sented  unto  his  death,  that  his  soul  might  be 
saved  alive,  and  the  evening  sun  shone  crim 
son  on  his  dead  body  as  it  lay  upon  the 
sands  of  the  desert. 

At  a  later  day  and  in  a  Christian  country 
two  children  were  born,  one  hundred  years 
apart,  and  the  world  had  now  so  far  pro 
gressed  that  absolute  power  over  the  life  of 
the  offspring  was  denied  the  parents.  The 
one  was  ruled  with  iron  rods ;  he  was  made 
to  obey  with  a  rigidity  of  compliance  and  a 
severity  of  treatment  in  case  of  failure  which 
made  obedience  a  slavish  duty,  and  he  was 
taught  besides  that  he  was  a  child  of  Satan 
and  an  heir  of  hell.  He  found  no  joy  in  his 
youth,  and  his  miserable  soul  groveled  in 
fear  of  the  despot  who  dominated  him,  and 
of  the  blazing  eternity  which  he  was  told 
would  be  the  punishment  for  his  sins.  His 
will  was  broken ;  he  was  made  weak  where 
he  might  have  been  strong ;  and  he  did  evil 
because  he  had  learned  no  power  of  self- 
restraint  :  yet  his  people  loved  him,  and  they 
had  done  all  these  things  because  they  wished 
to  purge  him  wholly  from  all  uncleanness. 


144  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

The  parents  of  the  other  child  were  warned 
of  the  lamentable  results  of  this  gloomy 
training,  and  they  said  one  to  another  :  "  Our 
darling  shall  be  free  as  air ;  his  duties  shall 
be  made  to  seem  like  pleasures,  or,  better 
still,  he  shall  have  no  duty  but  his  pleasure. 
He  shall  do  only  what  he  wills,  that  his  will 
may  grow  strong,  and  he  can  but  choose  the 
right,  for  he  knows  no  evil.  We  will  hold 
up  before  him  no  bugbear  of  future  punish 
ment,  for  doubtless  there  is  no  such  thing ; 
and  if  there  be,  it  will  not  be  meted  out  to 
such  a  child.  He  will  love  and  obey  his 
parents  because  they  have  devoted  them 
selves  to  his  happiness,  and  because  they 
have  never  imposed  distasteful  obligations 
upon  him,  and  when  he  grows  to  manhood 
he  will  be  a  model  of  wisdom  and  of  good 
ness." 

But,  lo !  the  child  of  this  training  was  as 
great  a  failure  as  the  child  of  austerity  and 
gloom.  He  was  capricious,  lawless,  willful, 
disobedient,  passionate ;  he  thought  of  no 
one's  pleasure  save  his  own  ;  he  cared  for  his 
parents  only  in  so  far  as  they  could  be  of  use 
to  him ;  and  like  a  wild  beast  of  the  jungle 
he  preyed  upon  the  life  around  him,  and 
cared  not  whom  he  destroyed  if  his  appetites 
were  satisfied. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  145 

"  In  every  field  of  opinion  and  action,  men 
arc  found  swinging  from  one  extreme  to  the 
other  of  life's  manifold  arcs  of  vibration." 
This  perpetual  movement  may  be  the  essen 
tial  condition  of  existence,  for  death  is  ces 
sation  of  motion  ;  or  it  may  be  a  never-ending 
effort  of  the  mind  to  reach  an  ideal  which 
discloses  itself  so  seldom  as  to  make  its  per 
manent  abiding-place  a  matter  of  uncertainty. 
Doubtless  there  is  somewhere  a  middle  to 
the  arc,  and  in  tiie  lapse  of  ages  the  needle 
may  at  last  find  the  "  pole-point  of  central 
truth"  and  be  at  rest;  but  as  yet,  in  every 
department  of  labor  and  thought,  it  is  vibrat 
ing,  and  after  tarrying  a  while  at  one  ex 
treme  it  swings  unsatisfied  back  to  the  other. 

Nowhere  are  these  extremes  more  notice 
able  than  in  the  government  of  children. 
Centuries  ago,  in  the  patriarchal  period,  the 
father  of  the  family  seems  also  to  have  ex 
ercised  the  functions  of  a  criminal  judge; 
but  the  uniting  of  the  two  sets  of  duties  in 
one  person  does  not  appear  to  have  inspired 
the  children  with  insurmountable  awe,  for 
laws  are  found  both  in  Numbers  and  Deu 
teronomy  fixing  the  penalty  of  disobedience, 
and  of  the  striking  of  a  parent  by  a  child. 

Still  later,   the    Roman   father  possessed 


146  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

arbitrary  powers  of  life  and  death  over  his 
children ;  but  it  is  probable  that  natural 
affection  and  a  more  advanced  civilization 
commonly  made  the  law  a  dead  letter. 

Though  the  world  in  time  grew  to  feel 
that  life  belonged  to  the  being  who  held  it, 
not  to  those  who  gave  it  birth,  still  disci 
pline  has  for  ages  been  directed  more  to  the 
body  than  to  the  mind,  with  an  idea  appar 
ently  that  the  pains  of  the  flesh  will  save 
the  soul.  Pious  parents  until  within  recent 
dates  have  regarded  the  flogging  of  children 
as  absolutely  a  religious  obligation,  and 
many  a  tender  mother  has  steeled  her  heart 
and  strengthened  her  arm  to  give  the  blows 
which  she  regarded  as  essential  to  the  spirit 
ual  well-being  of  her  child. 

The  birch  rod  and  the  Bible  were  the 
Parents'  Complete  Guide  to  domestic  man 
agement  in  Puritan  days,  and  no  one  can 
deny  that  this  treatment, .  though  rather  a 
heroic  one,  seems  to  have  produced  fine, 
strong,  self-denying  men  and  women. 

Governor  Bradford,  in  1648,  speaks  feel 
ingly  of  the  godliness  of  a  Puritan  woman 
whose  office  it  was  to  "  sit  in  a  convenient 
place  in  the  congregation,  with  a  little 
birchen  rod  in  her  hand,  and  keep  the  chil- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  147 

dren  in  great  awe  ;  "  and,  from  the  frequency 
with  which  chastisement  is  mentioned  in 
early  Puritan  records,  it  seems  pretty  clear 
that  the  sober  little  lads  and  lasses  of  the 
day  did  not  suffer  from  over-indulgence. 

When  this  wholesale  whipping  began  to 
fall  into  disuse,  many  philosophers  prophe 
sied  the  ruin  of  the  race,  but  these  gloomy 
predictions  have  scarcely  found  their  ful 
fillment  as  yet. 

There  has  been,  however,  a  colossal  change 
in  discipline,  from  the  days  when  disobedi 
ence  was  punishable  with  death  to  the  agree 
able  moral  suasion  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
as  exemplified  in  the  "  fin  de  siecle "  non 
sense  rhyme  :  - 

''  There  once  was  a  hopeful  young  horse 
Who  was  brought  up  on  love,  without  force  : 
He  had  his  own  way,  and  they  sugared  his  hay  ; 
So  he  never  was  naughty,  of  course." 

The  results  of  this  delightful  method  of 
treatment  seem  rather  problematic,  and  the 
modern  child  is  universally  acknowledged  to 
be  no  improvement  upon  his  predecessors 
in  point  of  respect  and  filial  piety  at  least. 

A  superintendent's  report,  written  thirty 
years  ago  for  one  of  the  New  England  States, 
regrets  that,  even  then,  home  government 


148  CHILDREN'S  RIG  LIT  S 

had  grown  lax.  He  wittily  says  that  Young 
America  is  rampant,  parental  influence 
couchant ;  and  no  reversal  of  these  posi 
tions  is  as  yet  visible  in  1892. 

To  those  who  note  the  methods  by  which 
many  children  are  managed,  it  is  a  matter 
of  wonderment  that  the  results  in  character 
and  conduct  are  not  very  much  worse  than 
they  are.  Dr.  Channing  wisely  says,  "  The 
hope  of  the  world  lies  in  the  fact  that  par 
ents  cannot  make  of  their  children  what 
they  will."  Happy  accidents  of  association 
and  circumstance  sometimes  nullify  the 
harm  the  parent  has  done,  and  the  tremen 
dous  momentum  of  the  race-tendency  car 
ries  the  child  over  many  an  obstacle  which 
his  training  has  set  in  his  path. 

It  seems  crystal-clear  at  the  outset  that 
you  cannot  govern  a  child  if  you  have  never 
learned  to  govern  yourself.  Plato  said,  many 
centuries  ago  :  "  The  best  way  of  training 
the  young  is  to  train  yourself  at  the  same 
time ;  not  to  admonish  them,  but  to  be 
always  carrying  out  your  own  principles  in 
practice,"  and  all  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients 
is  in  the  thought.  If,  then,  you  are  a  fit 
person  to  be  trusted  with  the  government  of 
a  child,  what  goal  do  you  propose  to  reach 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  149 

in  your  discipline  ;  what  is  your  aim,  your 
ideal? 

1.  The  discipline  should  be  thoroughly  in 
harmony  with  child-nature  in  general,  and 
suited  to  the  age  and   development  of   the 
particular  child  in  question. 

2.  It  should  appeal  to  the  higher  motives, 
and  to  the  higher  motives  alone. 

3.  It  should  develop  kindness,  helpfulness, 
and  sympathy. 

4.  It   should    never   use   weapons    which 
would  tend  to  lower  the  child's  self-respect. 

5.  It  should  be  thoroughly  just,  and  the 
punishment,  or  rather  the  retribution,  should 
be  commensurate  with  the  offense. 

6.  It   should  teach   respect   for  law,  and 
for  the  rights  of  others. 

Finally,  it  should  teach  "  voluntary  obedi 
ence,  the  last  lesson  in  life,  the  choral  song 
which  rises  from  all  elements  and  all  angels," 
and,  as  the  object  of  true  discipline  is  the 
formation  of  character,  it  should  produce 
a  human  being  master  of  his  impulses,  his 
passions,  and  his  will. 

The  journey's  end  being  fixed,  one  must 
next  decide  what  route  will  reach  it,  and  will 
be  short,  safe,  economical,  and  desirable ;  and 
the  roads  to  the  presumably  ideal  discipline 


150  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

are  many  and  well-traveled.  Some  of  them, 
it  is  true,  lead  you  into  a  swamp,  some  to 
the  edge  of  a  precipice  ;  some  will  hurl  you 
down  a  mountain-side  with  terrific  rapidity  ; 
others  stop  half-way,  bringing1  you  face  to 
face  with  a  blank  wall ;  and  others  again  will 
lose  you  entirely  on  a  bleak  and  trackless 
plain.  But  no  matter  which  route  you  select, 
you  will  have  the  wise  company  of  a  great 
many  teachers,  parents,  and  guardians,  and 
an  innumerable  throng  of  fair  and  lovely 
children  will  journey  by  your  side. 

The  road  of  threat  and  fear,  of  arbitrary 
and  over-severe  punishment,  has  been  much 
traveled  in  all  times,  though  perhaps  it  is 
a  little  grass-grown  now. 

The  child  who  obeys  you  merely  because 
he  fears  punishment  is  a  slave  who  cowers 
under  the  lash  of  the  despot.  Undue  sever 
ity  makes  him  a  liar  and  a  coward.  He 
hates  his  master,  he  hates  the  thing  he  is 
made  to  do ;  there  is  a  bitter  sense  of  injus 
tice,  a  seething  passion  of  revenge,  forever 
within  him  ;  and  were  he  strong  enough  he 
would  rise  and  destroy  the  power  that  has 
crushed  him.  He  has  done  right  because  he 
was  forced  to  do  so,  not  because  he  desired 
it ;  and  since  the  right-doing,  the  obedience, 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  151 

was  neither  the  fruit  of  his  reason  nor  his 
love,  it  cannot  be  permanent. 

The  feeling  of  justice  is  strong  in  the 
child's  mind,  and  you  have  constantly 
wounded  that  feeling.  You  have  destroyed 
the  sense  of  cause  and  effect  by  your  arbi 
trary  punishments.  You  have  corrected  him 
for  disobedience,  for  carelessness,  for  un- 
kindness,  for  untruthfulness,  for  noisiness, 
and  for  slowness  in  learning  his  lessons. 

How  is  he  to  know  which  of  these  of 
fenses  is  the  greatest,  if  all  have  received  the 
same  punishment  ?  Why  should  giving  him 
a  good  thrashing  teach  him  to  be  kind  to  his 
little  sister?  Why  should  he  learn  the  multi 
plication  table  with  greater  rapidity  because 
you  ferule  him  soundly  ?  Have  you  ever 
found  pain  an  assistance  to  the  memory  ? 

If  he  has  little  intellectual  perception  of 
the  difference  between  truth  and  falsehood, 
why  should  you  suppose  that  smart  strokes 
on  any  portion  of  the  body  would  quicken 
that  perception  ? 

Is  it  not  clear  as  the  sun  at  noonday  that, 
since  he  observes  the  punishment  to  have  no 
necessary  relation  to  the  offense,  and  since 
he  observes  it  to  be  light  or  severe  according 
to  your  pleasure,  —  is  it  not  clear  that  he 


152  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

will  suppose  you  to  be  using  your  superior 
strength  in  order  to  treat  him  unfairly,  and 
will  not  the  supposition  sow  seeds  of  hatred 
and  rebellion  in  his  heart  ? 

Another  road  to  discipline  is  that  of 
bribery. 

To  endeavor  to  secure  goodness  in  a  child 
by  means  of  bribery,  to  promise  him  a  re 
ward  in  case  he  obeys  you,  is  manifestly  an 
absurdity.  You  are  destroying  the  very 
traits  in  his  character  you  are  presumably 
endeavoring  to  build  up.  You  are  educat 
ing  a  human  being  who  knows  good  from 
evil,  and  who  should  be  taught  deliberately 
to  choose  the  right  for  the  right's  sake,  who 
should  do  his  duty  because  he  knows  it  to 
be  his  duty,  not  for  any  extraneous  reward 
connected  with  it.  A  spiritual  reward  will 
follow,  nevertheless,  in  the  feeling  of  happi 
ness  engendered,  and  the  child  may  early 
be  led  to  find  his  satisfaction  in  this,  and 
in  the  approval  of  those  he  loves. 

There  are,  of  course,  certain  simple  re 
wards  which  can  be  used  with  safety,  and 
which  the  child  easily  sees  to  be  the  natural 
results  of  good  conduct.  If  his  treatment 
of  the  household  pussy  has  been  kind  and 
gentle,  he  may  well  be  trusted  with  a  pet  of 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  153 

his  own  ;  if  he  puts  his  toys  away  carefully 
when  asked  to  do  so,  father  will  notice  the 
neat  room  when  he  comes  home ;  if  he 
learns  his  lessons  well  and  quickly,  he  will 
have  the  more  time  to  work  in  the  garden ; 
and  the  suggestion  of  these  natural  conse 
quences  is  legitimate  and  of  good  effect. 

It  is  always  safer,  no  doubt,  to  appeal  to 
a  love  of  pleasure  in  children  than  to  a  fear 
of  pain,  yet  bribes  and  extraneous  rewards 
inevitably  breed  selfishness  and  corruption, 
and  lead  the  child  to  expect  conditions  in 
life  which  will  never  be  realized.  Though 
retribution  of  one  kind  or  another  follows 
quickly  on  the  heels  of  wrong-doing,  yet 
virtue  is  commonly  its  own  reward,  and  it  is 
as  well  that  the  child  should  learn  this  at  the 
beginning  of  life.  Froebel  says  :  "  Does  a 
simple,  natural  child,  when  acting  rightly, 
think  of  any  other  reward  which  he  might 
receive  for  his  action  than  this  consciousness, 
though  that  reward  be  only  praise  ?  .  .  . 

"  How  we  degrade  and  lower  the  human 
nature  which  we  should  raise,  how  we 
weaken  those  whom  we  should  strengthen, 
when  we  hold  up  to  them  an  inducement  to 
act  virtuously  !  " 

Emulation  is  often  harnessed  into  service 


154  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

to  farther  intellectual  progress  and  the  for 
mation  of  right  habits  of  conduct,  and  this 
inevitably  breeds  serious  evils. 

It  is  well  to  set  before  the  child  an  ideal 
on  which  he  may  form  himself  as  far  as  pos 
sible  ;  but  when  this  ideal  sits  across  the 
aisle,  plays  in  a  neighboring  back  yard,  or, 
worse  still,  is  another  child  in  the  same  fam 
ily,  he  is  hated  and  despised.  His  virtues 
become  obnoxious,  and  the  unfortunate  evil 
doer  prefers  to  be  vicious,  that  he  may  not 
resemble  a  creature  whose  praises  have  so 
continually  been  sung  that  his  very  name  is 
odious. 

If  the  child  grows  accustomed  to  the  com 
parison  of  himself  with  others  and  the  en 
deavor  to  excel  them,  he  becomes  selfish, 
envious,  and  either  vain  of  his  virtue  and 
attainments,  or  else  thoroughly  disheartened 
at  his  small  success,  while  he  grudges  that 
of  his  neighbor.  George  Macdonald  says : 
"  No  work  noble  or  lastingly  good  can  come 
of  emulation,  any  more  than  of  greed.  I 
think  the  motives  are  spiritually  the  same." 

To  what  can  we  appeal,  then,  in  children, 
as  motives  to  goodness,  as  aids  in  the  forma 
tion  of  right  habits  of  thought  and  action  ? 
Ah!  the  child's  heart  is  a  harp  of  many 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  155 

strings,  and  touched  by  the  hand  of  a  master 
a  fine,  clear  tone  will  sound  from  every  one 
of  them,  while  the  resultant  strain  will  be 
a  triumphant  burst  of  glorious  harmony. 

Touch  delicately  the  string  of  love  of  ap 
proval,  and  listen  to  the  answer. 

The  child  delights  to  work  for  you,  to 
please  you  if  he  can,  to  do  his  tasks  well 
enough  to  win  your  favorable  notice,  and  the 
breath  of  praise  is  sweet  to  his  nostrils.  It 
is  right  and  justifiable  that  he  should  have 
this  praise,  and  it  will  be  an  aid  to  his  spirit 
ual  development,  if  bestowed  with  discrimi 
nation.  Only  Titanic  strength  of  character 
can  endure  constant  discouragement  and 
failure,  and  yet  work  steadily  onward,  and 
the  weak,  undeveloped  human  being  needs  a 
word  of  approval  now  and  then  to  show  him 
that  he  is  on  the  right  track,  and  that  his 
efforts  are  appreciated.  Of  course  the  kind 
and  the  frequency  of  the  praise  bestowed 
depend  entirely  upon  the  nature  of  the 
child. 

One  timid,  self-distrustful  temperament 
needs  frequently  to  bask  in  the  sunshine  of 
your  approval,  while  another,  somewhat  pre 
disposed  to  vanity  and  self-consciousness, 
needs  a  more  bracing  moral  climate. 


156  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

There  is  no  question  that  cleanliness  and 
fresh  air  may  be  considered  as  minor  aids  to 
goodness,  and  a  dangerous  outbreak  of  in 
subordination  may  sometimes  be  averted  by 
hastily  suggesting  to  the  little  rebel  a  run  in 
the  garden,  prefaced  by  a  thorough  applica 
tion  of  cool  water  to  the  flushed  face  and 
little  clenched  hands  ;  while  self-respect  may 
often  be  restored  by  the  donning  of  a  clean 
apron. 

Beauty  of  surroundings  is  another  incen 
tive  to  harmony  of  action.  It  is  easier  for 
the  child  to  be  naughty  in  a  poor,  gloomy 
room,  scanty  of  furniture,  than  in  a  garden 
gay  with  flowers,  shaded  by  full-leafed  trees, 
and  made  musical  by  the  voice  of  running 
water. 

Dr.  William  T.  Harris  says  :  "  Beauty  can 
not  create  a  new  heart,  but  it  can  greatly 
change  the  disposition,"  and  this  seems  un 
questionable,  especially  with  regard  to  the 
glory  of  God's  handiwork,  which  makes 
goodness  seem  "  the  natural  way  of  living." 
Yet  we  would  not  wish  our  children  to  be 
sybarites,  and  we  must  endeavor  to  cultivate 
in  their  breasts  a  hardy  plant  of  virtue 
which  will  liv%,  if  need  be,  on  Alpine  heights 
and  feed  on  scanty  fare. 

It  is  a  truism  that  interesting  occupation 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  157 

prevents  dissension,  and  that  idle  fingers  are 
the  Devil's  tools. 

A  child  who  is  good  and  happy  during 
school  time,  with  its  regular  hours  and  alter 
nated  work  and  play,  often  becomes,  in  vaca 
tion,  fretful,  sulky,  discontented,  and  in  arms 
against  the  entire  world. 

The  discipline  of  work,  if  of  a  proper 
kind,  of  a  kind  in  which  success  is  not  too 
long  delayed,  is  sure  and  efficacious.  Success, 
if  the  fruit  of  one's  own  efforts,  is  so  sweet 
that  one  lonjrs  for  more  of  the  work  which 

O 

produced  it. 

The  reverse  of  the  medal  may  be  seen»here 
also.  The  knotted  thread  which  breaks  if 
pulled  too  impatiently  ;  the  dropped  stitches 
that  make  rough,  uneven  places  in  the  pat 
tern  ;  the  sail  which  was  wrongly  placed 
and  will  not  propel  the  boat ;  the  pile  of 
withered  leaves  which  was  not  removed,  and 
which  the  wind  scattered  over  the  garden, 
—  are  not  all  these  concrete  moral  lessons 
in  patience,  accuracy,  and  carefulness  ? 

AVe  may  safely  appeal  to  public  opinion, 
sometimes,  in  dealing  with  children.  The 
chief  object  in  doing  this  "  is'to  create  a 
constantly  advancing  ideal  toward  which  the 
chiU^attracted,  and  thereby  to  gamjMMm- 
stantly  increasing  eft'ort  on  his  part  to  real- 


158  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

ize  this  ideal."  There  comes  a  time  in  the 
child's  development  when  he  begins  to  real 
ize  his  own  individuality,  and  longs  to  see 
it  recognized  by  others.  The  views  of  life, 
the  sentiments  of  the  people  about  him,  are 
clearly  noted,  and  he  desires  to  so  shape  his 
conduct  as  to  be  in  harmony  with  them.  If 
he  sees  that  tale-bearing  and  cowardice  are 
looked  upon  with  disgust  by  his  comrades,  he 
will  be  a  very  Spartan  in  his  laconicism  and 
courage ;  if  his  father  and  older  brothers 
can  bear  pain  without  wincing,  then  he  will 
not  cry  when  he  hurts  himself. 

Oftentimes  he  is  obdurate  when  reproved 
in  private  for  a  fault,  but  when  brought 
to  the  tribunal  of  the  disapproval  of  other 
children,  he  is  chagrined,  repents,  and  makes 
atonement.  He  is  uneasy  under  the  ad 
verse  verdict  of  a  large  company,  but  the 
condemnation  of  one  person  did  not  weigh 
with  him.  It  is  usually  not  wise,  however,  to 
appeal  to  public  opinion  in  this  way,  save  on 
an  abstract  question,  as  the  child  loses  his 
self-respect,  and  becomes  degraded  in  his 
own  oyos,  if  his  fault  is  trumpeted  abroad. 

Stories  of  brave  deeds,  poems  of  heroism, 
self-sacrifice,  and  loyalty,  have  their  places  in 
creating  a  sentiment  of  ideality  in  the  child's 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  159 

breast,  —  a  sentiment  which  remains  fixed 
sometimes,  even  though  it  be  not  in  harmony 
with  the  feeling  of  the  majority 

Now  and  then^sonie~TIo5le  soul  is  born, 
some  hero  so  thrilled  with  the  ideal  that  he 
rises  far  above  the  public  sentiment  of  his 
day ;  but  usually  'we  count  him  great  who 
overtops  his  fellows  by  an  inch  or  two,  and 
he  who  falls  much  below  the  level  of  ordi 
nary  feeling  is  esteemed  as  almost  beyond 
hope. 

To  seek  for  the  approval  of  others,  even 
though  they  embody  our  highest  ideals,  is 
truly  not  the  loftiest  form  of  aspiration  ;  but 
it  is  one  round  in  the  ladder  which  leads 
to  that  higher  feeling,  the  desire  for  the 
benediction  of  the  spirit-principle  within  us. 

Although  discipline  by  means  of  fear,  as 
the  word  is  commonly  used,  cannot  be  too 
strongly  condemned,  yet  there  is  a  "  godly 
fear "  of  which  the  Bible  speaks,  which  cer 
tainly  has  its  place  among  incentives  in  will- 
traininff.  The  child  has  not  attained  as 

O 

yet,  and  it  is  doubtful  whether  we  ourselves 
have  done  so,  to  that  supreme  excellence  of 
love  which  absolutely  casteth  out  fear. 

A  writer  of  great  moral  insight  says : 
"  Has  not  the  law  of  seed  and  flower,  cause 


160  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

and  effect,  the  law  of  continuity  which 
binds  the  universe  together,  a  tone  of  sever 
ity  ?  It  has  surely,  like  all  righteous  law, 
and  carries  with  it  a  legitimate  and  whole 
some  fear.  If  we  are  to  reap  what  we  have 
sown,  some,  perhaps  most  of  us,  may  dread 
the  harvest." 

The  child  shrinks  from  the  disapproval  of 
the  loved  parent  or  teacher.  By  so  much 
the  more  as  he  reverences  and  respects 
those  "  in  authority  over  him "  does  he 
dread  to  do  that  which  he  knows  they 
would  condemn.  If  he  has  been  led  to  ex 
pect  natural  retributions,  he  will  have  a 
wholesome  fear  of  putting  his  hand  in  the 
fire,  since  he  knows  the  inevitable  conse 
quences.  He  understands  that  it  is  folly  to 
expect  that  wrong  can  be  done  with  impu 
nity,  and  shrinks  in  terror  from  committing 
a  sin  whose  consequences  it  is  impossible 
that  he  should  escape.  He  knows  well  that 
there  are  other  punishments  save  those  of  the 
body,  and  he  has  felt  the  anguish  which  fol 
lows  self-condemnation.  "  There  is  nothing 
degrading  in  such  fear,  but  a  heart-search 
ing  reverence  and  awe  in  the  sincere  and 
humble  conviction  that  God's  law  is  every 
where." 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  161 

Such  are  some  of  the  false  and  some  of 
the  true  motives  which  can  be  appealed  to 
in  will-training,  but  there  are  various  points 
in  their  practical  application  which  may  well 
be  considered. 

May  we  not  question  whether  we  are  not 
frequently  too  exacting  with  children,  —  too 
much  given  to  fault-finding?  Were  it  not 
that  the  business  of  play  is  so  engrossing  to 
them,  and  life  so  fascinating  a  matter  on  the 
whole,  —  were  it  not  for  these  qualifying  cir 
cumstances,  we  should  harass  many  of  them 
into  dark  cynicism  and  misanthropy  at  a 
very  early  age.  I  marvel  at  the  scrupulous 
exactness  in  regard  to  truth,  the  fine  sense 
of  distinction  between  right  and  wrong, 
which  we  require  of  an  unfledged  human 
being  who  would  be  puzzled  to  explain  to 
us  the  difference  between  a  "  hawk  and  a 
handsaw,"  who  lives  in  the  realm  of  the 
imagination,  and  whose  view  of  the  world  is 
that  of  a  great  play-house  furnished  for  his 
benefit.  If  we  were  one  half  as  punctilious 
and  as  hypercritical  in  our  judgment  of  our 
selves,  we  should  be  found  guilty  in  short 
order,  and  sentenced  to  hard  labor  on  a  vast 
number  of  counts. 

There    are    many    comparatively     small 


162  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

faults  in  children  which  it  is  wise  not  to  see 
at  all.  They  are  mere  temporary  failings, 
tiny  drops  which  will  evaporate  if  quietly 
left  in  the  sunshine,  but  which,  if  opposed, 
will  gather  strength  for  a  formidable  cur 
rent.  If  we  would  sometimes  apply  Tol 
stoi's  doctrine  of  non-resistance  to  children, 
if  we  would  overlook  the  small  transgression 
and  quietly  supply  another  vent  for  the 
troublesome  activity,  there  would  be  less 
clashing  of  wills,  and  less  raising  of  an  evil 
spirit,  which  gains  wonderful  strength  while 
in  action. 

Do  we  not  often  use  an  arbitrary  and  a 
threatening  manner  in  our  commands  to 
children,  when  a  calm,  gentle  request,  in  a 
tone  of  expectant  confidence,  would  gain 
obedience  far  more  quickly  and  pleasantly  ? 

Some  natures  are  antagonized  by  the 
shadow  of  a  threat,  even  if  it  accompanies  a 
reasonable  order ;  and  if  we  acknowledge 
that  the  oil  of  courtesy  is  a  valuable  lubri 
cator  in  our  dealings  with  grown  people,  it 
seems  proper  to  suppose  that  it  would  not 
be  entirely  useless  with  children.  We 
cannot  expect  to  get  from  them  what  we 
do  not  give  ourselves,  and  it  is  idle  to  imag 
ine  that  we  can  address  them  as  we  would 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  103 

a  disobedient  dog,  and  be  answered  in  tones 
of  dulcet  harmony. 

Again,  what  possible  harm  can  there  be 
in  sometimes  giving  reasons  for  commands, 
when  they  are  such  as  the  child  would  ap 
preciate  ?  We  do  not  desire  to  bring  him  up 
under  martial  rule ;  and  if  he  feels  the  wis 
dom  of  the  order  issued,  he  will  be  much 
more  likely  to  obey  it  pleasantly.  Cases 
may  frequently  occur  in  which  reasons 
either  could  not  properly  be  given,  or  would 
be  beyond  the  child's  power  of  compre 
hension  ;  but  if  our  treatment  of  him  has 
been  uniformly  frank  and  affectionate,  he 
will  cheerfully  obey,  believing  that,  as  our 
commands  have  been  reasonable  heretofore, 
there  is  good  cause  to  suppose  they  may  still 
be  so. 

Educational  opinion  tends,  more  and 
more  every  day,  to  the  absolute  conviction 
that  the  natural  punishment,  the  effect  which 
follows  the  cause,  is  the  only  one  which  can 
safely  be  used  with  children. 

This  is  the  method  of  Nature,  severe  and 
unrelenting  it  may  be,  but  calm,  firm,  and 
purely  just.  He  who  sows  the  wind  must 
reap  the  whirlwind,  and  he  who  sows  thistles 
may  be  well  assured  that  he  will  never 


164  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

gather  figs  as  his  harvest.  The  feeling  of 
continuity,  of  sequence,  is  naturally  strong 
in  the  child ;  and  if  we  would  lead  him  to 
appreciate  that  the  law  is  as  absolute  in  the 
moral  as  in  the  physical  world,  we  shall  find 
the  ground  already  prepared  for  our  pur 
pose. 

Much  transgression  of  moral  law  in  later 
years  is  due  to  the  fatal  hope  in  the  evil 
doer's  mind  that  he  will  be  able  to  escape 
the  consequences  of  his  sin.  Could  we  make 
it  clear  from  the  beginning  of  life  that  there 
is  no  such  escape,  that  the  mills  of  the  gods 
will  grind  at  last,  though  the  hopper  stand 
empty  for  many  a  year,  —  could  we  make 
this  an  absolute  conviction  of  the  mind,  I 
am  assured  that  it  would  greatly  tend  to 
lessen  crime. 

And  this  is  one  of  the  defects  of  arbitrary 
punishment,  that  it  is  sometimes  withheld 
when  the  heart  of  the  judge  melts  over  the 
sinner,  leading  him  to  expect  other  possible 
exemptions  in  the  future.  Is  it  not  some 
times  given  in  anger,  also,  when  the  culprit 
clearly  sees  it  to  be  disproportionate  to  the 
crime  ? 

Here  appears  the  advantage  of  the  natu 
ral  punishment,  —  it  is  never  withheld  in 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  165 

weak  affection,  it  is  never  given  in  anger, 
it  is  entirely  disassociated  from  personal 
feeling.  No  poisoned  arrow  of  injustice  re 
mains  rankling  in  the  child's  breast  ;  no 
rebellious  feeling  that  the  parent  has  taken 
advantage  of  his  superior  strength  to  inflict 
the  punishment  :  it  is  perceived  to  be  abso 
lutely  fair,  and,  being  fair,  it  must  be, 
although  painful,  yet  satisfactory  to  that 
sense  of  justice  which  is  a  passion  of  child- 


Our  American  children  Nare  as  precocious 
in  will-power  as  they  are  keen-witted,  and 
they  need  a  special  discipline.  The  cour 
age,  activity,  and  pioneer  spirit  of  the  fathers, 
exercised  in  hewing  their  way  through  vir 
gin  forests,  hunting  wild  beasts  in  mountain 
solitudes,  opening  up  undeveloped  lands, 
prospecting  for  metals  through  trackless 
plains,  choosing  their  own  vocations,  helping 
to  govern  their  country,  —  all  these  things 
have  reacted  upon  the  children,  and  they  are 
thoroughly  independent,  feeling  the  need  of 
caring  for  themselves  when  hardly  able  to 
toddle. 

Entrust  this  precocious  bundle  of  nerves 
and  individuality  to  a  person  of  weak  will 
or  feeble  intelligence,  and  the  child  promptly 


166  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

becomes  his  ruler.  The  power  of  strong 
volition  becomes  caprice,  he  does  not  learn 
the  habit  of  obedience,  and  thus  valuable 
directive  power  is  lost  to  the  world. 

"  The  lowest  classes  of  society,"  says  Dr. 
Harris,  "  are  the  lowest,  not  because  there 
is  any  organized  conspiracy  to  keep  them 
down,  but  because  they  are  lacking  in  di 
rective  power."  The  jails,  the  prisons,  the 
reformatories,  are  filled  with  men  who  are 
there  because  they  were  weak,  more  than 
because  they  were  evil.  If  the  right  disci 
pline  in  home  and  school  had  been  given 
them,  they  would  never  have  become  the 
charge  of  the  nation.  Thus  we  waste  force 
constantly,  force  of  mind  and  of  spirit  suffi 
cient  to  move  mountains,  because  we  do  not 
insist  that  every  child  shall  exercise  his 
"  inherited  right,"  which  is,  "  that  he  be 
taught  to  obey." 

It  is  a  grave  subject,  this  of  will-training, 
the  gravest  perhaps  that  we  can  consider, 
and  its  deepest  waters  lie  far  below  the 
sounding  of  my  plummet.  Some  of  the 
principles,  however,  on  which  it  rests  are  as 
firmly  fixed  as  the  bed  of  the  ocean,  which 
remains  changeless  though  the  waves  con 
tinually  shift  above :  — 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  167 

1.  If  we  can  but  cultivate  the  habit  of  do 
ing  right,  we  enlist  in  our  service  one  of  the 
strongest  of  human   agencies.     Its  momen 
tum  is  so  great  that  it  may  propel  the  child 
into  the  course  of  duty  before  he  has  time 
to  discuss  the  question,  or  to  parley  with  his 
conscience  concerning  it. 

2.  We    must   remember  that    "force   of 
character  is  cumulative,  and  all  the  foregone 
days  of  virtue  work  their  health  into  this." 
The  task  need  not   be   begun   afresh   each 
morning  ;  yesterday's  strokes  are  still  there, 
and  to-day's  efforts  will   make  the  carving 
deeper  and  bolder. 

3.  We  may  compel  the  body  to  carry  out 
an  order,  the  fingers  to  perform  a  task  ;  but 
this  is  mere  slavish  compliance.*    True  obe 
dience    can   never   be    enforced ;   it   is   the 
fruit  of  the  reason  and  the  will,  the  free, 
glad  offering  of  the  spirit. 

4.  Though  many  motives  have  their  place 
in   early  will-training,  —  love    of   approval, 
deference  to  public  opinion,  the  influence  of 
beauty,  hopeful  occupation,  respect  and  rev 
erence  for  those  in  authority,  —  yet  these  are 
all  preparatory,  the   preliminary  exercises, 
which  must  be  well  practiced  before  the  soul 
can  spread  her  wings  into  the  blue. 


168  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

5.  There  is  but  one  true  and  final  motive 
to  good  conduct,  and  that  is  a  hunger  in  the 
soul  of  man  for  the  blessing  of  the  spirit, 
a  ceaseless  longing  to  be  in  perfect  harmony 
with  the  principles  of  everlasting  and  eter 
nal  right. 


THE  MAGIC  OF  "TOGETHER" 

"  '  Together  '  is  the  key-word  of  the  nineteenth  century." 


THE  MAGIC   OF  "TOGETHER" 

IT  is  an  old,  adobe-walled  Mexican  gar 
den.     All  around  it,  close  against  the  brown 

O 

bricks,  the  fleur-de-lis  stand  white  and  stately, 
guarded  by  their  tall  green  lances.  The 
sun's  rays  are  already  powerful,  though  it 
is  early  spring,  and  I  am  glad  to  take  my 
book  under  the  shade  of  the  orange-trees. 
In  the  dark  l^af-canopy  above  me  shine  the 
delicate  star-like  flowers,  the  partly  opened 
buds,  and  the  great  golden  oranges,  while 
tiny  green  and  half-ripe  spheres  make  a 
happy  contrast  in  color.  The  ground  about 
me  is  strewn  with  flowers  and  buds,  the  air 
is  heavy  with  fragrance,  and  the  bees  are 
buzzing  softly  overhead.  I  am  growing 
drowsy,  but  as  I  lift  my  eyes  from  my  book 
they  meet  something  which  interests  me.  A 
large  black  ant  is  tugging  and  pulling  at  an 
orange-bud,  and  really  making  an  effort  to 
carry  it  away  with  him.  It  is  once  and  a 
half  as  long  as  he,  fully  twice  as  wide,  and  I 
cannot  compute  how  much  heavier,  but  its 
size  and  weight  are  very  little  regarded.  He 


172  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

drags  it  vigorously  over  Alpine  heights  and 
through  valley  deeps,  but  evidently  finds  the 
task  arduous,  for  he  stops  to  rest  now  and 
then.  I  want  to  help  him,  but  cannot  be 
sure  of  his  destination,  and  fear  besides  that 
my  clumsy  assistance  would  be  misinter 
preted. 

Ah,  how  unfortunate  !  ant  and  orange-bud 
have  fallen  together  into  the  depths  of  a 
Colorado  canon  which  yawns  in  the  path. 
The  ant  soon  reappears,  but  clearly  feels  it 
impossible  to  drag  the  bud  up  such  a  preci 
pice,  and  runs  away  on  some,  other  quest. 
What  did  he  want  with  that  bud,  I  wonder  ? 
was  it  for  food,  or  bric-a-brac,  or  a  plaything 
for  the  babies  ?  Never  mind,  —  I  shall 
never  know,  and  I  prepare  to  read  again. 
But  what  's  this  ?  Here  is  my  ant  returning, 
and  accompanied  by  some  friends.  They 
disappear  in  the  canon,  helpfulness  and  in 
terest  in  every  wave  of  their  feelers.  Their 
heads  come  into  sight  again,  and  —  yes ! 
they  have  the  bud.  Now,  indeed,  events 
move,  and  the  burden  travels  rapidly  across 
the  smooth  courtyard  toward  the  house. 
Can  they  intend  to  take  it  up  on  the  flat 
roof,  where  we  have  lately  suspected  a  nest? 
Yes,  there  they  go,  straight  up  the  wall,  all 


CHILItltKX'S  RIGHTS  173 

putting  their  shoulders  to  the  wheel,  and 
resting  now  and  then  in  the  chinks  of  the 
crumbling  adobes.  Up  the  bud  moves  to 
the  gutters,  —  I  can  see  it  gleam  as  it  is 
pulled  over  the  edge,  —  they  are  out  of 
sight,  —  the  task  is  done  !  How  easy  any 
undertaking,  I  think,  when  people  are  will 
ing  to  help. 

In  a  high  dormer  window  of  a  great  city, 
in  a  nest  of  quilts  and  pillows,  sits  little  In- 
grid.  Her  blue  Danish  eyes  look  out  from 
a  pinched,  snow-white  face,  and  her  thin 
hands  are  languidly  folded  in  her  lap.  She 
gazes  far  down  below  to  the  other  side  of 
the  square,  where  she  can  just  see  the  wav 
ing  of  some  green  branches  and  an  open 
door. 

Her  eyes  brighten  now,  for  a  stream  of 
little  children  conies  pouring  from  that  door. 
"  Look,  mother !  "  she  cries,  "  there  are  the 
children !  "  and  the  mother  leaves  her  wash 
ing,  and  comes  with  dripping  hands  to  see 
every  tiny  boy  look  up  at  the  window  and 
flourish  his  hat,  and  every  girl  wave  her 
handkerchief,  or  kiss  her  hand.  They  form 
a  ring  ;  there  is  silence  for  a  moment  and 
then,  'mid  great  flapping  of  dingy  handker- 


174  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

chiefs  and  battered  hats,  a  hearty  cheer  is 
heard. 

"  They  're  cheering  my  birthday,"  cries 
Ingrid.  "  Miss  Mary  knows  it 's  my  birth 
day.  Oh,  isn't  it  lovely!"  And  the  thin 
hands  eagerly  waft  some  grateful  kisses  to 
the  group  below. 

The  scene  has  only  lasted  a  few  moments, 
the  children  have  had  their  run  in  the  fresh 
air,  and  now  they  go  marching  back,  paus 
ing  at  the  door  to  wave  good-by  to  the 
window  far  above.  The  mother  carries  In 
grid  back  to  her  bed  (it  is  a  weary  time  now 
since  those  little  feet  touched  the  floor)  ;  but 
the  bed  is  not  as  tiresome  as  usual,  nor  the 
washing  as  hard,  for  both  hearts  are  full  of 
sunshine. 

Afternoon  comes,  —  little  feet  are  heard 
climbing  up  the  stair,  and  Ingrid's  name  is 
called.  The  door  opens,  and  two  flushed  and 
breathless  messengers  stand  on  the  thresh 
old.  "  We  've  brung  you  a  birfday  pres 
ent,"  they  cry;  "it's  a  book,  and  we  made 
it  all  our  own  se'ves,  and  all  the  chilluns 
helped  and  made  somefin'  to  put  in  it.  Miss 
Mary 's  down  stairs  mindin'  the  babies,  and 
she  sends  you  her  love.  Good-by  !  Happy 
birfday  !  " 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  175 

"  Happy  birthday  "  indeed  !  Golden,  pre 
cious,  love-crowned  birthday !  Was  ever 
such  a  book,  so  full  of  sweet  messages  and 
tender  thoughts  ! 

Ingrid  knows  how  baby  Tim  must  have 
labored  to  sew  that  red  circle,  how  John 
Jacob  toiled  over  that  weaving-mat,  and  Elsa 
carefully  folded  the  drove  of  little  pigs. 
Everybody  thought  of  her,  and  all  the  "  chil- 
luns  "  helped,  and  how  dear  is  the  tangible 
outcome  of  the  thoughts  and  the  helping ! 

Far  back  in  the  childhood  of  the  world, 
the  long-haired  savage,  "  woaded,  winter-clad 
in  skins,"  went  roaming  for  his  food  wher 
ever  he  might  find  it.  He  dug  roots  from 
the  ground,  he  searched  for  berries  and 
fruits,  he  hid  behind  rocks  to  leap  upon  his 
living  prey,  yet  often  went  hungry  to  his 
lair  at  night,  if  the  root-crop  were  short,  or 
the  wild  beast  wary. 

But  if  the  day  had  been  a  fortunate  one, 
if  his  own  stomach  were  filled  and  his  body 
sheltered,  little  cared  he  whether  long-haired 
savage  number  two  were  hungry  and  cold. 
"  Every  one  for  himself,"  would  he  say,  as 
he  rolled  himself  in  his  skins,  "  and  the 
cave-bear,  or  any  other  handy  beast,  take  the 


176  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

hindmost."  The  simplicity  of  his  mental 
state,  his  complete  freedom  from  responsibil 
ity,  assure  us  that  his  digestion  of  the  raw 
flesh  and  the  tough  roots  must  have  been 
perfection,  and  the  sleep  in  those  furred 
skins  a  dreamless  one. 

What  impending  visitation  of  a  common 
enemy,  what  sudden  descent  of  a  fierce  horde 
of  strange,  wild,  long-forgotten  creatures, 
first  moved  him  to  ally  himself  with  barba 
rians  number  two  and  three  for  their  mutual 
protection  ?  And  when  long  years  of  alli 
ance  in  warfare,  and  mutual  distrust  at  all 
other  times,  had  slipped  away,  and  when 
savages  were  turning  into  herdsmen  and 
farmers  and  toolmakers,  to  what  leader 
among  men  did  a  system  of  exchange  of 
commodities  for  mutual  convenience  suggest 
itself? 

One  would  like  to  have  met  that  painted 
savage  who  first  suggested  combination  in 
warfare,  or  that  later  politico-economist  upon 
whom  it  faintly  dawned  that  mutual  help 
was  possible  in  other  directions  save  that  of 
blood-shedding. 

A  union  born  of  the  exigencies  of  warfare 
would  be  strengthened  later  by  the  prompt 
ings  of  self-interest,  and,  lo  !  the  experiment 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  177 

is  no  longer  an  experiment,  and  the  fact  is 
proven  that  men  may  fight  and  work  to 
gether  to  their  mutual  profit  and  advance 
ment. 

'T  is  a  simple  proposition,  after  all,  that 
ten  times  one  is  ten ;  and  the  bees,  the  ants, 
the  grosbeaks,  and  the  beavers  prove  it  so 
clearly  that  any  one  of  us  may  read,  though 
we  pass  by  never  so  quickly.  Yet  all  great 
truths  appear  in  man's  mind  in  very  rudi 
mentary  form  at  first,  and  each  successive 
generation  furnishes  more  favorable  soil  for 
their  growth  and  development. 

First,  men  joined  hands  in  offensive  and 
defensive  alliance  ;  second,  they  found  that, 
even  when  wars  were  over,  still  communi 
cation,  intercourse,  and  exchange  of  goods 
were  desirable  ;  third,  they  discovered  that 
no  great  enterprise  which  would  better  their 
condition  would  be  possible  without  coopera 
tion  ;  and,  fourth,  they  began  to  band  them 
selves  together  here  and  there,  not  only  for 
their  own  protection,  for  their  own  gain, 
but  to  watch  over  the  weak,  to  succor  the 
defenseless,  and  even  to  uphold  some  dear 
belief. 

The  magic  of  "  Together  "  has  thus  far 
reached,  and  who  can  tell  what  Happy  Valley, 


178  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

what  fair  Land  of  Beulah,  it  may  summon 
into  existence  in  the  future  ? 

The  incalculable  value  of  cooperation, 
the  solemn  truth  that  we  are  members  one 
of  another,  that  we  cannot  labor  for  our 
selves  without  laboring  for  others,  nor  injure 
ourselves  without  injuring  others,  —  all  this 
is  intellectually  appreciated  by  most  men  to 
day,  all  this  is  doubtless  acknowledged ;  yet 
I  cannot  find  that  it  has  obtained  much  re 
cognition  in  education,  nor  is  especially  in 
sisted  upon  in  the  training  of  children. 

But  surely,  if  children  have  any  social 
tendencies,  —  and  the  fact  needs  no  proof,  — 
these  tendencies  should  be  given  direction 
from  the  beginning  toward  benevolence, 
toward  harmonious  working  together  for 
some  common  aim.  This  would  be  compar 
atively  easy  even  in  a  nursery  containing 
three  or  four  little  people ;  and  how  much 
simpler  when  school  life  begins,  and  when 
the  powers  of  children  are  greatly  increased, 
while  they  are  in  hourly  contact  with  a 
large  number  of  equals  ! 

"  Society,"  as  Dr.  Hale  says,  "  is  the  great 
charm  and  only  value  of  school  life ; "  but 
this  charm  and  this  value  are  reduced  to 
a  minimum  in  many  schools.  "  Emulation, 


( 'in I. DHEX  's  UK; a  yx  179 

that  devil-shadow  of  aspiration,''  so  often 
used  as  a  stimulus  in  education,  must  for 
ever  separate  the  child  from  his  fellows. 

How  can  I  have  any  Christian  fellowship 
with  a  man  when  I  am  envying  him  his 
successes  and  grudging  him  his  honors?  Am 
I  not  tempted  to  withhold  my  help  from  my 
weak  brother  across  the  way,  lest  my  assist 
ance  place  him  on  an  equality  with  me? 

Again,  the  "  monitor  "  system,  as  some 
times  carried  out,  tends  to  separation  and 
engenders  dislike  and  distrust.  I  am  not 
likely  to  desire  close  communion,  except  in 
the  way  of  fisticuffs,  with  a  boy  who  has 
been  spying  upon  me  all  day,  or  who  has 
very  likely  "  reported  "  me  as  having  com 
mitted  divers  venial  offenses.  • 

It  is  the  idea  of  some  teachers  that  dis 
cipline  is  furthered  if  children  are  trained 
to  have  as  little  as  possible  to  do  with  each 
other,  and  there  is  no  question  that  this 
method  does  facilitate  a  toe-the-line  kind  of 
government.  It  would  probably  be  more 
satisfactory  to  such  a  teacher  if  each  child 
could  be  brought  to  school  in  a  sedan-chair, 
with  only  one  window  and  that  in  front, 
and  could  be  kept  in  it  during  the  whole 
session. 


180  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

As  such  a  plan,  however,  is  scarcely  feasi 
ble  ;  as  children,  with  or  against  our  wills, 
have  a  natural  and  God-given  instinct  for 
each  other's  company  ;  as  they  keenly  en 
joy  banding  themselves  together  for  what 
ever  purpose,  should  not  education  follow 
the  suggestions  which  an  earnest  study  of 
child-nature  can  but  give  ? 

Froebel,  with  those  divinely  curious  eyes 
of  his,  saw  deeper  into  the  child's  mind  and 
heart  than  any  of  his  predecessors,  and  for 
every  faint  stirring  of  life  which  he  per 
ceived  provided  adequate  conditions  of  de 
velopment.  True  prophet  of  the  coming 
day,  his  philosophy  is  rich  with  suggestions 
for  the  cultivation  of  the  social  powers  of 
the  child.  No  one  ever  felt  more  keenly 
than  he  the  inseparable,  the  organic  con 
nection  of  all  life ;  and  with  deep  spiritual 
insight  he  provides  nursery  plays  and  songs 
by  which  the  babe,  even  in  his  mother's 
arms,  may  be  led  faintly  to  recognize  in  his 
being  one  of  the  links  of  the  great  chain 
which  girdles  the  universe. 

Liter,  when  as  a  child  of  three  or  four 
years  he  makes  his  first  step  into  the  world, 
and  loosing  his  mother's  hand,  enters  a  larger 
family  of  children  of  his  own  age,  he  is  still 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  181 

led  to  feel  himself  a  part  of  a  vast  union, 
each  member  of  which  has  ministered  to 
him,  and  numberless  ways  are  opened  by 
which  he  can  join  with  others  to  give  back 
to  the  world  some  of  the  benefits  he  has 
enjoyed.  Stories  are  told  and  games  are 
played  which  lead  him  to  thank  the  kindly 
hands  which  have  furnished  his  daily  bread, 
his  warm  clothing,  and  his  sweet,  white  bed 
at  night. 

The  feeling  of  gratitude,  grown  and 
strengthened,  must  overflow  in  action.  The 
world  has  done  so  much  for  him,  what  can 
he  do  for  the  world  ?  Is  there  not  some 
little  invalid  who  would  greatly  prize  a  book 
of  dainty  pictures,  embroidered,  drawn,  and 
painted  by  her  child-friends  ?  Then  he  will 
join  with  his  companions,  and  patiently  and 
lovingly  fashion  such  a  book.  Is  the  class 
room  somewhat  bare  and  colorless?  Then 
he  can  give  up  some  of  his  cherished  work 
to  make  a  bright  frieze  about  the  walls. 

A  national  holiday  is  perhaps  approach 
ing.  He  will  unite  with  all  the  other  babies 
in  making  flags,  tri-colored  chains,  and  ro 
settes  to  deck  the  room  appropriately,  and  to 
please  the  mothers,  fathers,  and  friends  who 
are  coming  to  celebrate  the  occasion. 


182  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

One  of  the  greatest  pleasures  which  is 
offered  is  that  of  being  allowed  to  "  help  " 
somebody.  If  a  child  is  quick,  neat,  and 
careful,  if  he  has  finished  his  bit  of  work,  he 
may  go  and  help  the  babies,  and  very  gently 
and  very  patiently  he  guides  the  chubby 
fingers,  threads  the  needles,  or  ties  on  little 
caps,  and  conquers  refractory  buttons. 

To  be  a  "  little  helper,"  whether  he  is 
assisting  his  companions  or  the  grown-up 
people  about  him,  grows  to  seem  the  highest 
honor  within  his  reach.  He  knows  the  joy 
of  ministering  unto  others,  and  he  feels  that 
"  to  help  is  to  do  the  work  of  the  world." 

Thus  we  endeavor  to  give  external  expres 
sion  to  the  feelings  stirring  in  the  heart  of 
the  child,  knowing  that  "  even  love  can  grow 
cold"  if  not  nourished.  The  whole  spirit 
of  the  work,  if  carried  out  as  Froebel  in 
tended,  must  tend  directly  toward  social  evo 
lution,  and  the  intense  personalism  which  is 
a  distinguishing  mark  of  our  civilization, 
and  is  clearly  seen  in  our  children,  needs 
anointing  with  the  oil  of  altruism. 

The  circle  in  which  the  children  stand  for 
the  singing  is  itself  a  perfect  representa 
tion  of  unity.  Hands  are  joined  to  make 
a  "round  and  lovely  ring."  If  any  child  is 


CHILDREN'S    RIGHTS  183 

unkind,  or  regardless  of  the  rights  of  others, 
it  is  easily  seen  that  he  not  only  makes  him 
self  unhappy,  but  seriously  mars  the  plea 
sure  of  all  the  other  children.  If  he  will 
fully  leaves  the  circle,  a  link  in  the  chain  is 
broken  which  can  only  be  mended  when  he 
repents  his  folly  and  pleasantly  returns  to 
his  place.  Thus  early  he  may  be  made  to 
feel  that  all  lives  touch  his  own,  and  that 
his  indulgence  in  selfish  passion  not  only 
harms  himself,  but  is  the  more  blameworthy 
in  that  it  injures  others. 

The  songs  and  games  cannot  be  happily 
carried  on  unless  each  child  is  not  only 
willing  to  help,  but  willing  also  to  give  up 
his  chief  desires  now  and  thqji.  All  the 
children  would  like  to  be  the  flowers  in  the 
garden,  perhaps,  but  it  is  obvious  that  some 
must  remain  in  the  circle,  in  order  that  the 
fence  be  perfect,  and  prevent  stray  ani 
mals  from  destroying  what  we  love  and  cher 
ish.  So  there  is  constant  surrendering  of 
personal  desires  in  recognition  of  the  fact 
that  others  have  equal  rights,  and  that,  after 
all,  one  part  is  as  good  as  another,  since  all 
are  essential  to  the  whole. 

In  cooperative  building,  the  children 
quickly  see  that  the  symmetrical  figure  which 


184  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

four  little  ones  have  made  together,  uniting 
their  material,  is  infinitely  larger  and  finer 
than  any  one  of  them  could  have  made  alone. 
If  they  are  making  a  village  at  their  little 
tables,  one  builds  the  church,  another  work 
shops  and  stores,  others  schools  and  houses, 
while  the  remainder  make  roads,  lay  out 
gardens,  plant  trees,  and  plough  the  fields. 
No  one  of  the  children  had  strength  enough, 
time  enough,  or  material  enough  to  build 
the  village  alone,  yet  see  how  well  and  how 
quickly  it  is  done  when  we  all  help  ! 

The  sand-box,  in  which  of  course  all 
children  delight,  lends  itself  especially  to 
cooperative  exercises.  They  gather  around 
it  and  plant^  gardens  with  the  bright-colored 
balls ;  they  use  it  for  geography,  moulding 
the  hills,  mountains,  valleys,  and  tracing  the 
rivers  near  their  homes  ;  they  arrange  his 
torical  dramas,  as  "  Paul  Revere's  Ride," 
or  the  "  Landing  of  the  Pilgrims  :  "  but  no 
child  does  any  one  of  these  things  alone  ; 
there  is  constant  and  happy  cooperation. 

It  is  the  aim  of  one  day's  exercise,  per 
haps,  to  retrace  with  the  child  the  various 
steps  by  which  his  comfortable  chair  and  his 
strong  work-table  have  come  to  him. 

O 

^  Across  one  end  of  the  sand-box,  a  group 
of  children  plant  a  forest   with  little   pine 


CHILDREN'S  R1U11TS  185 

branches  which  they  have  brought.  The 
wood-cutters  come,  fell  the  trees,  and  cut 
away  the  boughs.  Another  party  of  chil 
dren  bring  the  heavy  teams,  previously  built 
from  the  play-material,  harness  in  the  horses 
(taken  from  a  Noah's  Ark),  and  prepare  to 
carry  off  the  logs.  Now  here  come  the  road- 
makers,  and  they  lay  out  a  smooth,  hard  road 
for  the  teams,  reaching  to  the  very  bank  of 
the  river,  which  another  party  of  little  ones 
has  made.  The  logs  are  tumbled  into  the 
stream ;  they  float  downward,  are  rafted, 
carried  to  the  mill ;  little  sticks  are  fur 
nished  to  represent  the  boards  into  which 
they  are  sawn  ;  and  the  lumber  is  taken  to 
the  cabinet-maker,  that  he  may  fashion  our 

furniture.  ^ 
/ 

Though  there  be  twenty  children  around 
the  sand-box,  yet  all  have  been  employed. 
Each  has  enjoyed  his  own  work,  yet  appre 
ciated  the  value  of  his  neighbor's.  They 
have  worked  together  harmoniously  and  the 
doing  has  reacted  upon  the  heart,  and 
strengthened  the  feeling  of  unity  which  is 
growing  within. 

Such  exercises  cannot  fail  to  teach  the 
value  and  power  of  social  effort,  and  the 
necessity  of  subordinating  personal  desires  to 
the  common  good.  Yet  the  development  of 


186  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

individuality  is  not  forgotten,  for  u  our 
power  as  individuals  depends  upon  our  re 
cognition  of  the  rights  of  others." 

It  is  true  that  the  social  problem  is  an 
intricate  one  and  cannot  be  worked  out,  even 
partially,  at  any  stage  of  education,  unless 
the  leader  of  the  children  be  a  true  leader, 
and  be  enthusiastically  convinced  of  the  es 
sential  value  of  the  principles  011  which  the 
problem  is  based.  Yet  this  might  be  said 
with  equal  truth  of  any  educational  aim, 
for  the  gospel  must  always  have  its  inter 
preters,  and  some  will  ever  give  a  more 
spiritual  reading  and  seize  the  truth  which 
was  only  half  expressed,  while  others,  dull- 
eyed,  mechanical,  "  kill  with  the  letter." 

"  After  all,"  says  Dr.  Stanley  Hall,  "  there 
is  nothing  so  practical  in  education  as  the 
ideal,  nor  so  ideal  as  the  practical ; "  and  we 
may  be  assured  that  the  direction  of  the 
social  tendencies  of  the  child  toward  high 
and  noble  aims,  toward  the  sinking  of  self 
and  the  generous  thought  of  others,  —  that 
this  is  not  only  ideal,  not  only  a  following 
after  the  purest  light  yet  vouchsafed  to  us, 
but  is  at  the  same  time  practical  in  its  de 
tailed  workings,  and  in  its  adaptation  to  the 
needs  and  desires  of  the  day. 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  KINDER 
GARTEN  TO  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 

''  The  nature  of  an  educational  system  is  determined 
by  the  manner  in  which  it  is  begun." 


THE  RELATION  OF  THE  KINDER 
GARTEN  TO  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOL 

THE  question  for  us  to  decide  to-day  is 
not  how  we  can  interest  people  in  and  how 
illustrate  the  true  kindergarten,  for  that  is 
already  done  to  a  considerable  extent ;  but, 
how  we  can  convince  school  boards,  superin 
tendents,  and  voters  that  the  final  introduc 
tion  of  the  kindergarten  into  the  public 
school  system  is  a  thing  greatly  to  be  desired, 
The  kindergarten  and  the  school,  now  two 
distinct,  dissimilar,  and  sometimes,  though 
of  late  very  seldom,  antagonistic  institu 
tions,  —  how  will  the  one  affect,  or  be  af 
fected  by  the  other  ? 

As  to  the  final  adoption  of  the  kindergar 
ten  there  is  a  preliminary  question  which 
goes  straight  to  the  root  of  the  whole  matter. 
At  present  the  state  accepts  the  responsi 
bility  of  educating  children  after  an  arbitra 
rily  fixed  age  has  been  reached.  ^Ought  it 
not,  rather,  if  it  assumes  the  responsibility 
at  all,  to  begin  to  educate  the  child  when  he 
needs  education  ?  \ 


190  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

Thoughtful  people  are  now  awaking  to  the 
fact  that  this  regulation  is  an  artificial,  not 
a  natural  one,  and  that  we  have  been  wast 
ing  two  precious  years  which  might  not  only 
be  put  to  valuable  uses,  but  would  so  shape 
and  influence  after-teaching  that  every  suc 
ceeding  step  would  be  taken  with  greater 
ease  and  profit.  We  have  been  discreet  in 
omitting  the  beginning,  so  long  as  we  did 
not  feel  sure  how  to  begin.  But  we  know 
now  that  Froebel's  method  of  dealing  with 
four  or  five  year  old  babies,  when  used  by  a 
discreet  and  intelligent  person,  justifies  us 
in  taking  this  delicate,  debatable  ground. 

So  far,  then,  it  is  a  question  of  law  —  a 
law  which  can  be  modified  just  as  soon  and 
as  sensibly  as  the  people  wish.  Before, 
however,  that  modification  can  become  the 
active  wish  of  the  people,  its  importance 
must  be  understood  and  its  effects  estimated. 
Could  it  be  shown  that  after-education  will 
be  hindered  or  in  any  way  rendered  more 
difficult  by  the  kindergarten,  clearly  all  ef 
forts  to  introduce  it  must  cease.  Were  it 
merely  a  matter  of  indifference,  something 
that  would  neither  make  nor  mar  the  after- 
work  of  schools,  then  it  would  remain  a 
matter  of  choice  or  fancy,  for  individual 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  191 

parents  to  decide  as  they  like ;  but,  if  it  can 
be  shown  that  the  work  of  the  kindergarten 
will  lay  a  more  solid  foundation,  or  trace 
more  direct  paths  for  the  workers  of  a  later 
period,  then  it  behooves  us  to  give  it  a 
hearty  welcome,  and  to  work  out  its  princi 
ples  with  zealous  good  will :  and  "  working 
out  "  its  principles  means,  not  accepting  it 
as  a  finality  —  a  piece  of  flawless  perfection 
—  but  as  a  stepping-stone  which  will  lead 
us  nearer  to  the  truth.  If  it  is  a  good  thing, 
it  is  good  for  all ;  if  it  is  truth,  we  want  it 
everywhere;  but  if  this  new  department  of 
education  and  training  is  to  gain  ground, 
or  accomplish  the  successful  fruition  of  its 
wishes,  there  must  be  perfect  unity  among 
teachers  concerning  it.  If  they  all  under 
stood  the  thing  itself,  and  understood  each 
other,  there  could  be  no  lack  of  sympathy  ; 
yet  there  has  been  misunderstanding,  con 
flict  occasionally,  and  some  otherwise  wor 
thy  teachers  have  used  the  kindergarten  as 
a  sort  of  intellectual  cuttle-fish  to  sharpen 
their  conversational  bills  upon. 

Of  course  I  am  not  blind  to  the  fact  that 
after  we  have  determined  that  we  ought  to 
have  the  kindergarten,  there  are  many  ques 
tions  of  expediency :  suitable  rooms,  expense 


192  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

of  material,  salaries,  assistants,  age  of  chil 
dren  at  entrance,  system  of  government, 
number  of  children  in  one  kindergarten ; 
and  greatest  of  all,  but  least  thought  of, 
strangely,  the  linking  together  of  kindergar 
ten  and  school,  so  that  the  development  shall 
be  continuous,  and  the  chain  of  impressions 
perfect  and  unbroken. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  it  has  been  done,  and 
can  be  done  again ;  but  it  needs  discretion, 
forethought,  tact,  earnestness,  and  unim 
peachable  honesty  of  administration,  for  un 
less  we  can  depend  upon  our  school  boards 
and  kindergartners  implicitly,  counting  upon 
them  for  wise  cooperation,  brooding  care, 
and  great  wisdom  in  selection  of  teachers, 
the  experiment  will  be  a  failure.  We  have 
risks  enough  to  run  as  it  is ;  let  us  not  per 
mit  our  little  ones,  more  susceptible  by  reason 
of  age  than  any  we  have  to  deal  with  now, 
—  let  us  not  permit  them  to  become  victims 
of  politics,  rings,  or  machine  teaching. 

The  kindergarten  is  more  liable  to  abuse 
than  any  other  department  of  teaching. 
There  is  no  ground  in  the  universe  so  sacred 
as  this.  But  the  difference  between  primary 
schools  is  just  as  great,  only,  unfortunately, 
we  have  become  used  to  it ;  and  the  kinder- 


CUILl>lti:.\ "N   RIGHTS  193 

garten  being  under  fire,  so  to  speak,  must 
be  absolutely  ideal  in  its  perfection,  or  it  is 
ruthlessly  held  up  to  scorn. 

There  is  a  tremendous  awakening  all  over 
the  country  with  regard  to  kindergarten  and 
primary  work,  and  this  is  well,  since  the 
greatest  and  most  fatal  mistakes  of  the  pub 
lic  school  system  have  been  made  just  here; 
and  the  time  is  surely  coining  when  more 
knowledge,  wisdom,  tact,  ingenuity,  fore 
thought,  yes,  and  money,  will  be  expended 
in  order  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  case. 
The  time  is  coming  when  the  imp  of  parsi 
mony  will  no  longer  be  mistaken  for  the 
spirit  of  economy  ;  when  a  woman  possessed 
of  ordinary  human  frailty  will  no  longer  be 
required  to  guide,  direct,  develop,  train, 
help,  love,  and  be  patient  with  sixty  little 
ones,  just  beginning  to  tread  the  difficult 
paths  of  learning,  and  each  receiving  just 
one  sixtieth  of  what  he  craves.  The  mil 
lennium  will  be  close  at  hand  when  we 
cease  to  expect  from  girls  just  out  of  the 
high  school  what  Socrates  never  attempted, 
and  would  have  deemed  impossible. 

Look  at  Senator  Stanford's  famous  Palo 
Alto  stock  farm.  Each  colt  born  into  that 
favored  community  is  placed  in  a  class  of 


194  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

twelve.  These  twelve  colts  are  cared  for  and 
taught  by  four  or  five  trained  teachers.  No 
man  interested  in  the  training  of  fine  horses 
ever  objects,  so  far  as  I  know,  to  such  ex 
penditure  of  labor  and  money.  The  end  is 
supposed  to  justify  the  means.  But  when 
the  creatures  to  be  trained  are  human 
beings,  and  when  the  end  to  be  reached  is 
not  race-horses,  but  merely  citizens,  we  em 
ploy  a  very  different  process  of  reasoning. 

That  this  subject  of  early  training  is  a 
vitally  interesting  one  to  thinking  people 
cannot  be  denied.  The  kindergarten  has 
become  the  fashion,  you  say,  cynically.  This 
is  scarcely  true;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  the 
upper,  the  middle,  and  the  lower  classes 
among  us  begin  to  recognize  the  existence 
of  children  under  six  years  of  age,  and  re 
alize  that  far  from  being  nonentities  in  life, 
or  unknown  quantities,  they  are  very  lively 
units  in  the  sum  of  progressive  education. 

When  we  speak  of  kindergarten  work 
among  the  children  of  the  poor,  and  argue 
its  claims  as  one  of  the  best  means  of  tak 
ing  unfortunate  little  Arabs  from  the  de 
moralizing  life  of  the  streets,  and  of  giving 
their  aimless  hands  something  useful  to  do, 
their  restless  minds  something  good  and 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  195 

fruitful  to  think  of,  and  their  curious  eyes 
something  beautiful  to  look  on,  there  is  not 
a  word  of  disapproval.  People  seem  willing 
to  concede  its  moral  value  when  applied  to 
the  lower  classes,  but,  when  they  are  obliged 
to  p;iy  anything  to  procure  this  training  for 
their  own  children,  or  see  any  prospect  of 
what  they  call  an  already  extravagant  school 
system  made  more  s*b  by  its  addition,  they 
become  prolific  in  doubts.  In  other  words, 
they  believe  in  it  when  you  call  it  philan 
thropy,  but  not  when  you  call  it  education  ; 
and  it  must  be  called  the  germ  of  the  better 
education,  toward  which  we  are  all  strug 
gling,  the  nearest  approach  to  the  perfect 
beginning  which  we  have  yet  found. 

We  see  in  the  excellence  of  Froebel's  idea, 
educationally  considered,  its  only  claim  to 
peculiar  power  in  dealing  with  incipient 
hoodlumism.  It  is  only  because  it  has  such 
unusual  fitness  to  child-nature,  such  a  store 
of  philosophy  and  ingenuity  in  its  appli 
ances,  and  such  a  wealth  of  spiritual  truth 
in  its  aims  and  methods,  that  it  is  so  great 
a  power  with  neglected  children  and  ignorant 
and  vicious  parents. 

The  principles  on  which  Froebel  built  his 
educational  idea  may  be  summed  up  briefly 


196  CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS 

under  four  heads.  First,  All  the  faculties 
of  the  child  are  to  be  drawn  out  and  ex 
ercised  as  far  as  age  allows.  Second,  The 
powers  of  habit  and  association,  which  are 
the  great  instruments  of  all  education,  of  the 
whole  training  of  life,  must  be  developed 
with  a  systematic  purpose  from  the  earliest 
dawn  of  intelligence.  Third,  The  active 
instincts  of  childhood  are  to  be  cultivated 
through  manual  exercise  (chiefly  creative  in 
character),  which  is-  made  an  essential  part 
of  the  training,  and  this  manual  exercise  is 
to  be  valued  chiefly  as  a  means  of  self- 
expression.  Fourth,  The  senses  are  to  be 
trained  to  accuracy  as  well  as  the  hand.  The 
child  must  learn  how  to  observe  what  is 
placed  before  him,  and  to  observe  it  truly, 
an  acquirement  which  any  teacher  of  science 
or  art  will  appreciate.  To  work  out  these 
principles,  Froebel  devised  his  practical 
method  of  infant  education,  and  the  very 
name  he  gave  to  the  place  where  his  play 
lessons  were  to  be  used  marks  his  purpose. 
No  books  are  to  be  seen  in  a  kindergarten, 
because  no  ideas  or  facts  are  presented  to 
the  child  that  he  cannot  clearly  understand 
and  verify.  The  object  is  not  to  teach  him 
arithmetic  or  geometry,  though  he  learns 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  197 

enough  of  both  to  be  very  useful  to  him 
hereafter ;  but  to  lead  him  to  discover  truths 
concerning  forms  and  numbers,  lines  and 
angles,  for  himself. 

Thus  in  the  play-lessons  the  teacher  sim 
ply  rules  the  order  in  which  the  child  shall 
approach  a  new  thing,  and  gives  him  the 
correct  names  which,  henceforth,  he  must 
always  use ;  but  the  observation  of  resem 
blances  and  differences  (that  groundwork  of 
all  knowledge),  the  reasoning  from  one  point 
to  another,  and  the  conclusions  he  arrives  at, 
are  all  his  own;  he  is  only  led  to  see  his 
mistake  if  he  makes  one.  The  child  handles 
every  object  from  which  he  is  taught,  and 
learns  to  reproduce  it. 

It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  any  ordinary 
system  of  object  teaching  in  the  hands  of  an 
ingenious  teacher  will  serve  the  purpose  or 
take  the  place  of  the  kindergarten.  People 
who  say  this  evidently  have  no  conception  of 
Froebel's  plan,  in  which  the  simultaneous 
training  of  head,  heart,  and  hand  is  the  most 
striking  characteristic. 

The  kindergarten  is  mainly  distinguished 
from  the  later  instruction  of  the  school  by 
making  the  knowledge  of  facts  and  the  cul 
tivation  of  the  memory  subordinate  to  the  de- 


198  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

velopment  of  observation  and  to  the  appro 
priate  activity  of  the  child,  physical,  mental, 
and  moral.  Its  aim  is  to  utilize  the  now  al 
most  wasted  time  from  four  to  six  years,  a 
time  when  all  negligent  and  ignorant  mothers 
leave  the  child  to  chance  development,  and 
when  the  most  careful  mother  cannot  train 
her  child  into  the  practice  of  social  virtues 
so  well  as  the  truly  wise  kindergartuer  who 
works  with  her.  "  We  learn  through  doing'' 
is  the  watchword  of  the  kindergarten,  but  it 
must  be  a  doing  which  blossoms  into  being, 
or  it  does  not  fulfill  its  ideal,  for  it  is  char 
acter  building  which  is  to  go  on  in  the  kin 
dergarten,  or  it  has  missed  Froebel's  aim. 

What  does  the  kindergarten  do  for  chil 
dren  under  six  years  of  age  ?  What  has  it 
accomplished  when  it  sends  the  child  to  the 
primary  school  ?  I  do  not  mean  what  Froe- 
bel  hoped  could  be  done,  or  what  is  occa 
sionally  accomplished  with  bright  children 
and  a  gifted  teacher,  or  even  what  is  done 
in  good  private  kindergartens,  for  that  is 
yet  more  ;  but  I  mean  what  is  actually  done 
for  children  by  charitable  organizations, 
which  are  really  doing  the  work  of  the 
state. 

I  think  they  can  claim  tangible  results 


S   RIGHTS  199 

which  are  wholly  remarkable ;  and  yet  they 
do  not  work  for  results,  or  expect  much 
visible  fruit  in  these  tender  years,  from  a 
culture  which  is  so  natural,  child-like,  and 
unobtrusive  that  its  very  outward  simpli 
city  has  caused  it  to  be  regarded  as  a  play 
thing. 

In  glancing  over  the  acquirements  of  the 
child  who  has  left  the  kindergarten,  and  has 
been  actually  taught  nothing  in  the  ordinary 
acceptation  of  the  word,  we  find  that  he  has 
worked,  experimented,  invented,  compared, 
reproduced.  All  things  have  been  revealed 
in  the  doing,  and  productive  activity  has  en 
lightened  and  developed  the  mind. 

First,  as  to  arithmetic.  It  does  not  come 
first,  but  though  you  speak  with  the  tongues 
of  men  and  angels,  and  make  not  mention  of 
arithmetic,  it  profiteth  you  nothing.  The 
First  Gift  shows  one  object,  and  the  children 
get  an  idea  of  one  whole ;  in  the  Second 
they  receive  three  whole  objects  again,  but  of 
different  form  ;  in  the  Third  and  Fourth, 
the  regularly  divided  cube  is  seen,  and  all 
possible  combinations  of  numbers  as  far  as 
eight  are  made.  In  the  Fifth  Gift  the  child 
sees  three  and  its  multiples ;  in  fractions, 
halves,  quarters,  eighths,  thirds,  ninths,  and 


200  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

twenty-sevenths.  With  the  Sixth,  Seventh, 
and  Eighth  Gifts  the  field  is  practically  un 
limited. 

Second,  as  to  the  child's  knowledge  of 
form,  size,  and  proportion.  His  development 
has  been  quite  extensive :  he  knows,  not 
always  by  name,  but  by  their  characteristics, 
vertical,  horizontal,  slanting,  and  curved 
lines  ;  squares,  oblongs  ;  equal  sided,  blunt 
and  sharp  angled  triangles  ;  five,  six,  seven 
and  eight  sided  figures ;  spheres,  cylinders, 
cubes,  and  prisms.  All  this  elementary  geo 
metry  has,  of  course,  been  learned  u  baby 
fashion,"  in  a  purely  experimental  way,  but 
nothing  will  have  to  be  unlearned  when  the 
pupil  approaches  geometry  later  in  a  more 
thoroughly  scientific  spirit. 

Third,  as  to  the  cultivation  of  language, 
of  the  power  of  expression,  we  cannot  speak 
with  too  much  emphasis.  The  vocabulary 
of  the  kindergarten  child  of  the  lower  classes 
is  probably  greater  than  that  of  his  mother 
or  father.  You  can  see  how  this  comes 
about.  The  teachers  themselves  are  obliged 
to  make  a  study  of  simple,  appropriate,  ex 
pressive,  and  explicit  language ;  the  child 
is  led  to  express  all  his  thoughts  freely  in 
proper  words  from  the  moment  he  can  lisp  ; 


CHILD  REX'S  RIGHTS  201 

he  is  trained  through  singing  to  distinct  and 
careful  enunciation,  and  the  result  is  a  re 
markably  good  power  of  language.  I  make 
haste  to  say  that  this  need  not  necessarily 
be  used  for  the  purposes  of  chattering  in  the 
school. 

The  child  has  not,  of  course,  learned  to 
read  and  write,  but  reading  is  greatly  sim 
plified  by  his  accurate  power  of  observation, 
and  his  practice  of  comparing  forms.  The 
work  of  reading  is  play  to  a  child  whose  eye 
has  been  thus  trained.  As  to  writing,  we 
precede  it  by  drawing,  which  is  the  sensible 
and  natural  plan.  The  child  will  have  had 
a  good  deal  of  practice  with  slate  and  lead 
pencil ;  will  have  drawn  all  sorts  of  lines  and 
figures  from  dictation,,  and  have  created 
numberless  designs  of  his  own. 

If,  in  short,  our  children  could  spend  two 
years  in  a  good  kindergarten,  they  would  not 
only  bring  to  the  school  those  elements  of 
knowledge  which  are  required,  but  would 
have  learned  in  some  degree  how  to  learn, 
and,  in  the  measure  of  their  progress,  hare 
nothing  to  unlearn. 

Let  those  who  labor,  day  by  day,  with  in 
ert  minds  never  yet  awakened  to  a  wish  for 
knowledge,  a  sense  of  beauty,  or  a  feeling  of 


202  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

pleasure  in  mental  activity,  tell  us  how  much 
valuable  school  time  they  would  save,  if  the 
raw  material  were  thus  prepared  to  their 
hand.  "  After  spending  five  or  six  years 
at  home  or  in  the  street,  without  training  or 
discipline,  the  child  is  sent  to  school  and  is 
expected  to  learn  at  once.  He  looks  upon 
the  strange,  new  life  with  amazement,  yet 
without  understanding.  Finally,  his  mind 
becomes  familiar  in  a  mechanical  manner, 
ill-suited  to  the  tastes  of  a  child,  with  the 
work  and  exercises  of  primary  instruction, 
the  consequence  being,  very  often,  a  feeble 
body  and  a  stuffed  mind,  the  stuffing  having 
very  little  more  effect  upon  the  intellect  than 
it  has  upon  the  organism  of  a  roast  turkey." 
The  kindergarten  can  remedy  these  intellec 
tual  difficulties,  beside  giving  the  child  an 
impulse  toward  moral  self-direction,  and  a 
capacity  for  working  out  his  original  ideas 
in  visible  and  permanent  form,  which  will 
make  him  almost  a  new  creature.  It  can, 
by  taking  the  child  in  season,  set  the  wheels 
in  motion,  rouse  all  his  best,  finest,  and  high 
est  instincts,  the  purest,  noblest,  and  most 
vivifying  powers  of  which  he  is  possessed. 

There  is  a  good  deal  of  time  spent  in  the 
kindergarten  on  the  cultivation  of  politeness 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  203 

and  courtesy  ;  and  in  the  entirely  social  at 
mosphere  which  is  one  of  its  principal  fea 
tures,  the  amenities  of  polite  society  can  be 
better  practiced  than  elsewhere. 

The  kindergarten  aims  in  no  way  at  mak 
ing  infant  prodigies,  but  it  aims  success 
fully  at  putting  the  little  child  in  possession 
of  every  faculty  he  is  capable  of  using ;  at 
bringing  him  forward  on  lines  he  will  never 
need  to  forsake  ;  at  teaching  within  his  nar 
row  range  what  he  will  never  have  to  un 
learn  ;  and  at  giving  him  the  wish  to  learn, 
and  the  power  of  teaching  himself.  Its  deep 
simplicity  should  always  be  maintained,  and 
no  lover  of  childhood  or  thoughtful  teacher 
would  wish  it  otherwise.  It  is  more  impor 
tant  that  it  should  be  kept  pure  than  that  it 
should  become  popular. 

I  have  tried,  thus,  somewhat  at  length,  to 
demonstrate  that  our  educational  system 
cannot  be  perfect  until  we  begin  still  earlier 
with  the  child,  and  begin  in  a  more  child 
like  manner,  though,  at  the  same  time,  ear 
nestly  and  with  definite  purpose.  In  trying 
to  make  manhood  and  womanhood,  we  some 
times  treat  children  as  little  men  and  women, 
not  realizing  that  the  most  perfect  childhood 
is  the  best  basis  for  strong  manhood. 


204  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

Further,  I  have  tried  to  show  that  Froe- 
bel's  system  gives  us  the  only  rational  be 
ginning  ;  but  I  confess  frankly  that  to  make 
it  productive  of  its  vaunted  results,  it  must 
be  placed  in  the  hands  of  thoroughly  trained 
kindergartners,  fitted  by  nature  and  by  edu 
cation  for  their  most  delicate,  exacting,  and 
sacred  profession. 

Now  as  to  compromises.  The  question  is 
frequently  asked,  Cannot  the  best  things 
of  the  kindergarten  be  introduced  in  the 
primary  departments  of  the  public  school? 
The  best  thing  of  kindergartening  is  the 
kindergarten  itself,  and  nothing  else  will  do  ; 
it  would  be  necessary  to  make  very  material 
changes  in  the  primary  class  which  is  to 
include  a  kindergarten  —  changes  that  are 
demanded  by  radically  different  methods. 

The  kindergarten  should  offer  the  child 
experience  instead  of  instruction  ;  life  in 
stead  of  learning  ;  practical  child-life,  a  min 
iature  world,  where  he  lives  and  grows,  and 
learns  and  expands.  No  primary  teacher, 
were  she  Minerva  herself,  can  work  out  Froe- 
bel's  idea  successfully  with  sixty  or  seventy 
children  under  her  sole  care. 

You  will  see  for  yourselves  that  this  sim 
ple,  natural,  motherly  instruction  of  baby- 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  205 

hood  cannot  be  transplanted  bodily  into  the 
primary  school,  where  the  teacher  has  fifty 
or  sixty  children  who  are  beyond  the  two 
most  fruitful  years  which  the  kindergarten 
demands.  Besides,  the  teachers  of  the  lower 
grades  cannot  introduce  more  than  an  infi 
nitesimal  number  of  kindergarten  exercises, 
and  at  the  same  time  keep  up  their  full 
routine  of  primary  studies  and  exercises. 

Any  one  who  understands  the  double  needs 
of  the  kindergarten  and  primary  school  can 
not  fail  to  see  this  matter  correctly,  and  as 
I  said  before,  we  do  not  want  a  few  kinder 
garten  exercises,  we  want  the  kindergarten. 
If  teachers  were  all  indoctrinated  with  the 
spirit  of  Froebel's  method,  they  would  carry 
on  its  principles  in  dealing  with  pupils  of 
any  age  ;  but  Froebel's  kindergarten,  pure 
and  simple,  creates  a  place  for  children  of 
four  or  five  years,  to  begin  their  bit  of  life- 
work  ;  it  is  in  no  sense  a  school,  nor  must 
become  so,  or  it  would  lose  its  very  essence 
and  truest  meaning. 

Let  me  show  you  a  kindergarten  !  It  is 
no  more  interesting  than  a  good  school,  but 
I  want  you  to  see  the  essential  points  of  dif 
ference  :  — 

It  is  a  golden  morning,  a  rare  one  in  a 


206  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

long,  rainy  winter.  As  we  turn  into  the  nar 
row,  quiet  street  from  the  broader,  noisy 
one,  the  sound  of  a  bell  warns  us  that  we 
are  near  the  kindergarten  building.  ...  A 
few  belated  youngsters  are  hurrying  along, 
—  some  ragged,  some  patched,  some  plainly 
and  neatly  clothed,  some  finishing  a  "  port 
able  breakfast  "  thrust  into  their  hands  five 
minutes  before,  but  all  eager  to  be  there.  .  .  . 
While  the  Lilliputian  armies  are  wending 
their  way  from  the  yard  to  their  various 
rooms,  we  will  enter  the  front  door  and  look 
about  a  little. 

The  windows  are  wide  open  at  one  end  of 
the  great  room.  The  walls  are  tinted  with 
terra  cotta,  and  the  woodwork  is  painted  in 
Indian  red.  Above  the  high  wood  dado 
runs  a  row  of  illuminated  pictures  of  ani 
mals,  —  ducks,  pigeons,  peacocks,  calves, 
lambs,  colts,  and  almost  everything  else  that 
goes  upon  two  or  four  feet ;  so  that  the  chil 
dren  can,  by  simply  turning  in  their  seats, 
stroke  the  heads  of  their  dumb  friends  of 
the  meadow  and  barnyard.  .  .  .  There  are 
a  great  quantity  of  bright  and  appropriate 
pictures  on  the  walls,  three  windows  full  of 
plants,  a  canary  chirping  in  a  gilded  cage, 
a  globe  of  gold-fish,  an  open  piano,  and  an 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  207 

old  -  fashioned  sofa,  which  is  at  present 
adorned  with  a  small  scrap  of  a  boy  who 
clutches  a  large  slate  in  one  hand,  and  a 
mammoth  lunch-pail  in  the  other.  ...  It  is 
his  first  day,  and  he  looks  as  if  his  big  bro 
ther  had  told  him  that  he  would  be  "  wal 
loped  "  if  he  so  much  as  winked. 

A  half-dozen  charming  girls  are  fluttering 
about ;  charming,  because,  whether  plain  or 
beautiful,  they  all  look  happy,  earnest,  wo 
manly,  full  to  the  brim  of  life. 

"  A  sweet,  heart-lifting1  cheerfulness, 
Like  spring-time  of  the  year, 
Seems  ever  on  their  steps  to  wait." 

.  .  .  They  are  tying  on  white  aprons  and 
preparing  the  day's  occupations,  for  they  are 
a  detachment  of  students  from  a  kinder 
garten  training  school,  and  are  on  duty  for 
the  day. 

One  of  them  seats  herself  at  the  piano  and 
plays  a  stirring  march.  The  army  enters, 
each  tiny  soldier  with  a  "shining  morning 
face."  Unhappy  homes  are  forgotten  .  .  . 
smiles  everywhere  .  .  .  everybody  glad  to 
see  everybody  else  .  .  .  happy  children, 
happy  teachers  .  .  .  sunshiny  morning,  sun 
shiny  hearts  .  .  .  delightful  work  in  pros 
pect,  merry  play  to  follow  it.  ...  "  Oh, 


208  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

it 's  a  beautiful  world,  and  I  'm  glad  I  'm  in 
it ;  "  so  the  bright  faces  seem  to  say. 

It  is  a  cosmopolitan  regiment  that  marches 
into  the  free  kindergartens  of  our  large  cities. 
Curly  yellow  hair  and  rosy  cheeks  .  .  .  sleek 
blonde  braids  and  calm  blue  eyes  .  .  . 
swarthy  faces  and  blue-black  curls  .  .  . 
woolly  little  pows  and  thick  lips  .  .  .  long 
arched  noses  and  broad  flat  ones.  Here  you 
see  the  fire  and  passion  of  the  Southern 
races,  and  the  self -poise,  serenity  and  sturdi- 
ness  of  Northern  nations.  Pat  is  here  with 
a  gleam  of  humor  in  his  eye  .  .  .  Topsy,  all 
smiles  and  teeth,  .  .  .  Abraham,  trading 
tops  with  Isaac,  next  in  line,  .  .  .  Gretchen 
and  Hans,  phlegmatic  and  dependable,  .  .  . 
Francois,  never  still  for  an  instant,  .  .  . 
Christina,  rosy,  calm,  and  conscientious,  and 
Duncan,  as  canny  and  prudent  as  any  of  his 
people.  Pietro  is  there,  and  Olaf ,  and  little 
John  Bull. 

What  an  opportunity  for  amalgamation 
of  races,  and  for  laying  the  foundation  of 
American  citizenship  !  for  the  purely  social 
atmosphere  of  the  kindergarten  makes  it  a 
life-school,  where  each  tiny  citizen  has  full 
liberty  under  the  law  of  love,  so  long  as  he 
does  not  interfere  with  the  liberty  of  his 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  209 

neighbor.  The  phrase  "  Every  man  for 
himself  "  is  never  heard,  but  "  We  are  mem 
bers  one  of  another  "  is  the  common  prin 
ciple  of  action. 

The  circles  are  formed.  Every  pair  of 
hands  is  folded,  and  bright  eyes  are  tightly 
closed  to  keep  out  "  the  world,  the  flesh," 
and  the  rest  of  it,  while  children  and  teach 
ers  sing  one  of  the  morning  hymns  :  — 

"  Birds  and  bees  and  flowers, 

Every  happy  day, 
Wake  to  greet  the  sunshine, 

Thankful  for  its  ray. 
All  the  night  they  're  silent, 

Sleeping  safe  and  warm  ; 
God,  who  knows  and  loves  them, 

Will  keep  them  from  all  harm. 

"  So  the  little  children, 

Sleeping  all  the  night, 
Wake  with  each  new  morning, 

Fresh  and  sweet  and  bright. 
Thanking  God  their  Father 

For  his  loving  care, 
With  their  songs  and  praises 

They  make  the  day  more  fair." 

Then  comes  a  trio  of  good-morning  songs, 
with  cordial  handshakes  and  scores  of  kisses 
wafted  from  finger-tips.  ..."  Good-Morn 
ing,  Merry  Sunshine,"  follows,  and  the  sun, 
encouraged  by  having  some  notice  taken  of 


210  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

him  in  this  blind  and  stolid  world,  shines 
brighter  than  ever.  .  .  .  The  song,  "  Thumbs 
and  Fingers  say  '  Good-Morning,'  "  brings 
two  thousand  fingers  fluttering  in  the  air 
(10  x  200,  if  the  sum  seems  too  difficult), 
and  gives  the  eagle-eyed  kindergartners  an 
opportunity  to  look  for  dirty  paws  and 
preach  the  needed  sermon. 

It  is  Benny's  birthday ;  five  years  old  to 
day.  He  chooses  the  songs  he  likes  best,  and 
the  children  sing  them  with  friendly  energy. 
..."  Three  cheers  for  Benny,  —  only  three, 
now  !  "  says  the  kindergartner.  .  .  .  They 
are  given  with  an  enthusiasm  that  brings  the 
neighbors  to  the  windows,  and  Benny,  burst 
ing  with  pride,  blushes  to  the  roots  of  his 
hair.  The  children  stop  at  three,  however, 
and  have  let  off  a  tremendous  amount  of 
steam  in  the  operation.  Any  wholesome 
device  which  accomplishes  this  result  is 
worthy  of  being  perpetuated.  ...  A  drag 
gled,  forsaken  little  street-cat  sneaks  in  the 
door,  with  a  pitiful  mew.  (I  'm  sure  I  don't 
wonder !  if  one  were  tired  of  life,  this  would 
be  just  the  place  to  take  a  fresh  start.)  The 
children  break  into  the  song,  "  I  Love  Little 
Pussy,  Her  Coat  is  so  Warm,"  and  the 
kindergartner  asks  the  small  boy  with  the 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  211 

great  lunch  pail  if  he  would  n't  like  to  give 
the  kitty  a  bit  of  something  to  eat.  He 
complies  with  the  utmost  solemnity,  thinking 
this  the  queerest  community  he  ever  saw.  .  .  . 
A  broken-winged  pigeon  appears  oil  the 
window-sill  and  receives  his  morning  crumb  ; 
and  now  a  chord  from  the  piano  announces 
a  change  of  programme.  The  children  troop 
to  their  respective  rooms  fairly  warmed 
through  with  happiness  and  good  will.  Such 
a  pleasant  morning  start  to  some  who  have 
been  "hustled  "  out  of  a  bed  that  held  sev 
eral  too  many  in  the  night,  washed  a  trifle 
(perhaps !),  and  sent  off  without  a  kiss,  with 
the  echo  of  a  sick  mother's  wails,  or  a  fa 
ther's  oaths,  ringing  in  their  ears  ! 

After  a  few  minutes  of  cheerful  prepara 
tion,  all  are  busily  at  work.  Two  divisions 
have  gone  into  tiny,  "  quiet  rooms  "  to  grap 
ple  with  the  intricacies  of  mathematical  re 
lations.  A  small  boy,  clad  mostly  in  red 
woolen  suspenders,  and  large,  high-topped 
boots,  is  passing  boxes  of  blocks.  He  is 
awkward  and  slow.  The  teacher  could  do 
it  more  quietly  and  more  quickly,  but  the 
kindergarten  is  a  school  of  experience  where 
ease  comes,  by  and  by,  as  the  lovely  result 
of  repeated  practice.  .  .  .  We  hear  an  in- 


212  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

formal  talk  on  fractions,  while  the  cube  is 
divided  into  its  component  parts,  and  then 
see  a  building  exercise  "  by  direction." 

In  the  other  "  quiet  room  "  they  are  build 
ing  a  village,  each  child  constructing,  ac 
cording  to  his  own  ideas,  the  part  assigned 
him.  One  of  them  starts  a  song,  and  they 
all  join  in  — 

"  Oh  !  builders  we  would  like  to  be, 
So  willing1,  skilled,  and  strong  ; 
And  while  we  work  so  cheerily, 
The  time  will  not  seem  long." 

"  If  we  all  do  our  parts  well,  the  whole 
is  sure  to  be  beautiful,"  says  the  teacher. 
"  One  rickety,  badly  made  building  will  spoil 
our  village.  I  'm  going  to  draw  a  blackboard 
picture  of  the  children  who  live  in  the  vil 
lage.  Johnny,  you  haven't  blocks  enough 
for  a  good  factory,  aixd  Jennie  has  n't  enough 
for  hers.  Why  don't  you  club  together  and 
make  a  very  large,  fine  one  ?  " 

This  working  for  a  common  purpose,  yet 
with  due  respect  for  individuality,  is  a  very 
important  part  of  kindergarten  ethics.  Thus 
each  child  learns  to  subordinate  himself  to 
the  claims  and  needs  of  society  without  los 
ing  himself.  "  No  man  liveth  to  himself  " 
is  the  underlying  principle  of  action. 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  213 

Coming  back  to  the  main  room  we  find  one 
division  weaving  bright  paper  strips  into  a 
mat  of  contrasting  color,  and  note  that  the 
occupation  trains  the  sense  of  color  and  of 
number,  and  develops  dexterity  in  both 
hands. 

But  what  is  this  merry  group  doing  in  the 
farther  corner?  These  are  the  babies,  bless 
them  !  and  they  are  modeling  in  clay.  What 
an  inspired  version  of  pat-a-cake  and  mud 
pies  is  this!  The  sleeves  are  pushed  up, 
showing  a  high-water  mark  of  white  arm 
joining  little  brown  paws.  What  fun ! 
They  are  modeling  the  seals  at  the  Cliff 
House  (for  this  chances  to  be  a  California 
kindergarten),  and  a  couple  of  two-year-olds, 
who  have  strayed  into  this  retreat,  not  be 
cause  there  was  any  room  for  them  here,  but 
because  there  was  n't  any  room  for  them 
anywhere  else,  are  slapping  their  lumps  of 
clay  with  all  their  might,  and  then  rolling  it 
into  caterpillars  and  snakes.  This  last  is  not 
very  educational,  you  say,  but  "  virtue  kin 
dles  at  the  touch  of  joy,"  and  some  lasting 
good  must  be  born  out  of  the  rational  hap 
piness  that  surrounds  even  the  youngest 
babies  in  the  kindergarten. 

The  sand-table  in  this  room  represents  an 


214  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

Italian  or  Chinese  vegetable  garden.  The 
children  have  rolled  and  leveled  the  surface 
and  laid  it  off  in  square  beds  with  walks 
between.  The  planting  has  been  "  make 
believe,"  —  a  different  kind  of  seed  in  each 
bed  ;  but  the  children  have  named  them  all, 
and  labeled  the  various  plats  with  pieces  of 
paper,  fastened  in  cleft  sticks.  A  garden 
er's  house,  made  of  blocks,  ornaments  one 
corner,  and  near  it  are  his  tools,  —  watering- 
pot,  hoe,  rake,  spade,  etc.,  all  made  in  card 
board  modeling. 

We  now  pass  up-stairs.  In  one  corner 
a  family  of  twenty  children  are  laying  de 
signs  in  shining  rings  of  steel ;  and  as  the 
graceful  curves  multiply  beneath  their  clever 
fingers,  the  kindergartner  is  telling  them  a 
brief  story  of  a  little  boy  who  made  with 
these  very  rings  a  design  for  a  beautiful 
"  rose  window,"  which  was  copied  in  stained 
glass  and  hung  in  a  great  stone  church,  of 
which  his  father  was  the  architect. 

Another  group  of  children  is  folding, 
by  dictation,  a  four-inch  square  of  colored 
paper.  The  most  perfect  eye -measure,  as 
well  as  the  most  delicate  touch,  is  needed 
here.  Constant  reference  to  the  "  sharp " 
angle,  u  blunt "  angle,  square  corner  and 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  215 

rfght  angle,  horizontal  and  vertical  lines, 
show  that  the  foundation  is  being  laid  for  a 
future  clear  and  practical  knowledge  of  ge 
ometry,  though  the  word  itself  is  never  men 
tioned. 

There  is  one  unhappy  little  boy  in  this 
class.  He  has  broken  the  law  in  some  way, 
and  he  has  no  work. 

"  That  is  a  strange  idea,"  said  the  woman 
visitor.  "  In  my  time  work  was  given  to  us 
as  a  punishment,  and  it  seemed  a  most  ex 
cellent  plan." 

u  We  look  at  it  in  another  way,"  said  the 
kindergartner,  smiling.  "  You  see,  work  is 
really  the  great  panacea,  the  best  thing  in 
the  world.  We  are  always  trying  to  train 
the  children  to  a  love  of  industry  and  help 
ful  occupation  ;  so  we  give  work  as  a  reward, 
and  take  it  away  as  a  punishment." 

We  pass  into  the  sunny  upper  hall,  and 
find  some  children  surrounding  a  large  sand- 
table.  The  exercise  is  just  finished,  and  we 
gaze  upon  a  miniature  representation  of  the 
Cliff  House  embankment  and  curving  road, 
a  section  of  beach  with  people  standing 
(wooden  ladies  and  gentlemen  from  a  Noah's 
Ark),  a  section  of  ocean,  and  a  perfect  Seal 
Rock  made  of  clay. 


216  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

"  Run  down-stairs,  Timmy,  please,  and 
ask  Miss  Ellen  if  the  seals  are  ready."  .  .  . 
Timmy  flies.  .  .  . 

Presently  the  babies  troop  up,  each  carry 
ing  a  precious  seal  extended  on  two  tiny 
hands  or  reposing  in  apron.  They  are  all 
bursting  with  importance.  .  .  .  Of  course, 
the  small  Jonah  of  the  flock  tumbles  up  the 
stairs,  bumps  his  nose,  and  breaks  his  trea 
sure.  There  is  an  agonized  wail. 

O 

"  /  bust  my  seal  !  "  .  .  .  Some  one  springs 
to  the  rescue.  .  .  .  The  seal  is  patched,  tears 
are  dried,  and  harmony  is  restored.  .  .  .  The 
animals  are  piled  on  the  rocks  in  realistic 
confusion,  and  another  class  comes  out  with 
twenty-five  paper  fishes  to  be  arranged  in 
the  waves  of  sand. 

Later  on,  the  sound  of  a  piano  invites  us 
to  witness  the  kindergarten  play-time. 

Through  kindergarten  play  the  child 
comes  to  know  the  external  world,  the  phy 
sical  qualities  of  the  objects  which  surround 
him,  their  motions,  actions,  and  reactions 
upon  each  other,  and  the  relations  of  these 
phenomena  to  himself ;  a  knowledge  which 
forms  the  basis  of  that  which  will  be  his  per 
manent  stock  in  life.  The  child's  fancy  is 
healthily  fed  by  images  from  outer  life,  and 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  217 

his  curiosity  by  new  glimpses  of  knowledge 
from  the  world  around  him. 

There  are  plays  and  plays !  The  ordinary 
unguided  games  of  childhood  are  not  to  be 
confounded  for  an  instant  with  the  genuine 
kindergarten  plays,  which  have  a  far  deeper 
significance  than  is  apparent  to  the  super 
ficial  observer.  "  Take  the  simplest  circle 
game ;  it  illustrates  the  whole  duty  of  a 
good  citizen  in  a  republic.  Anybody  can 
spoil  it,  yet  nobody  can  play  it  alone  ;  any 
body  can  hinder  its  success,  yet  no  one  can 
get  credit  for  making  it  succeed." 

The  play  is  over  ;  the  children  inarch  back 
to  their  seats,  and  settle  themselves  to  an 
other  period  of  work,  which  will  last  until 
noon.  We  watch  the  bright  faces,  cheerful, 
friendly  chatter,  the  busy  figures  hovering 
over  pleasant  tasks,  and  feel  that  it  has  been 
good  to  pass  a  morning  in  this  republic  of 
childhood. 

I  have  given  you  but  a  tithe  of  the  whole 
argument,  the  veriest  bird's-eye  view  ;  neither 
is  it  romance  ;  it  is  simple  truth  ;  and,  that 
being  the  case,  how  can  we  afford  to  keep 
Froebel  and  his  wonderful  influence  on 
childhood  out  of  a  system  of  free  education 
which  has  for  its  aim  the  development  of 


218  CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS 

a  free,  useful,  liberty-loving,  self -governing 
people  ?  It  is  too  great  a  factor  to  be  dis 
regarded,  and  the  coming  years  will  prove 
it  so ;  for  the  value  of  such  schools  is  no 
longer  a  matter  of  theory  ;  they  have  been 
tested  by  experience,  and  have  won  favor 
wherever  they  have  been  given  a  fair  trial. 
But  how  important  a  work  they  have  to  do 
in  our  scheme  of  public  education  is  clear 
only  when  we  consider  the  conditions  which 
our  public  schools  must  meet  nowadays. 

On  the  theory  upon  which  the  state  under 
takes  the  education  of  its  youth  at  all  —  the 
necessity  of  preparing  them  for  intelligent 
citizenship  —  a  community  might  better 
economize,  if  economize  it  must,  anywhere 
else  than  on  the  beginning.  An  enormous 
immigrant  population  is  pressing  upon  us. 
The  kindergarten  reaches  this  class  with 
great  power,  and  increases  the  insufficient 
education  within  the  reach  of  the  children 
who  must  leave  school  for  work  at  the  age 
of  thirteen  or  fourteen.  It  increases  it,  too, 
by  a  kind  of  training  which  the  child  gets 
from  no  other  schooling,  and  brings  him 
under  influences  which  are  no  small  addition 
to  the  sum  total  of  good  in  his  life. 

The    entire    pedagogical    world   watches 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  219 

with  interest  the  educational  awakening  of 
which  the  kindergarten  has  been  the  dawn. 
If  people  really  want  to  make  the  experi 
ment,  if  parents  and  tax-payers  are  anxious 
to  have  for  their  younger  children  what 
seems  so  beneficent  a  training,  then  let 
them  accept  no  compromises,  but,  after  tak 
ing  the  children  at  a  proper  age,  see  to  it 
that  they  get  pure  kindergarten,  true  kinder 
garten,  and  nothing  but  kindergarten  till 
they  enter  the  primary  school.  Then  they 
will  be  prepared  for  study,  and  begin  it  with 
infinite  zest,  because  they  comprehend  its 
meaning.  Having  had  that  beautiful  begin 
ning,  every  later  step  will  seem  glad  to  the 
child  ;  he  will  not  see  knowledge  "  through 
a  glass  darkly,  but  face  to  face,"  iu  her  most 
charming  aspect. 


OTHER  PEOPLE'S   CHILDREN 

"  Where  is  thy  brother  Abel  ?  " 


OTHER  PEOPLE'S  CHILDREN 

WE  will  suppose,  for  the  sake  of  argu 
ment,  that  the  rights  of  our  own  children 
are  secured ;  but  though  such  security  be 
tokens  an  admirable  state  of  affairs,  it  does 
not  cover  the  whole  ground  ;  there  are  al 
ways  the  "other  people's  children."  The 
still  small  voice  is  forever  saying,  "  Where 
is  thy  brother  Abel  ?  " 

There  are  many  matters  to  be  settled  with 
regard  to  this  brother  Abel,  and  we  differ 
considerably  as  to  the  exact  degree  of  our 
responsibility  towards  him.  Some  people 
believe  in  giving  him  the  full  privileges  of 
brotherhood,  in  sharing  alike  with  him  in 
every  particular,  and  others  insist  that  he  is 
no  brother  of  theirs  at  all.  Let  the  na 
tionalists  and  socialists,  and  all  the  other  re 
formers,  decide  this  vexed  question  as  best 
they  can,  particularly  with  regard  to  the 
"  grown-up  "  Abels.  Meanwhile,  there  are 
a  few  sweet  and  wholesome  services  we  can 
render  to  the  brother  Abels  who  are  not  big 


224  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

enough  to  be  nationalists  and  socialists,  nor 
strong  enough  to  fight  for  their  own  rights. 

Among  these  kindly  offices  to  be  ren 
dered,  these  practical  agencies  for  making 
Abel  a  happy,  self-helpful,  and  consequently 
a  better  little  brother,  we  may  surely  count 
the  free  kindergarten. 

My  mind  convinces  me  that  the  kinder 
garten  idea  is  true ;  not  a  perfect  thing  as 
yet,  but  something  on  the  road  to  perfec 
tion,  something  full  of  vitality  and  power 
to  grow ;  and  my  heart  tells  me  that  there 
is  no  more  beautiful  or  encouraging  work  in 
the  universe  than  this  of  taking  hold  of  the 
unclaimed  babies  and  giving  them  a  bit  of 
motherliness  to  remember.  The  Free  Kin 
dergarten  is  the  mother  of  the  motherless, 
the  father  of  the  fatherless ;  it  is  the  great 
clean  broom  that  sweeps  the  streets  of  its 
parentless  or  worse  than  parentless  children, 
to  the  increased  comfort  of  the  children,  and 
to  the  prodigious  advantage  of  the  street. 

We  are  very  much  interested  in  the  clean 
ing  of  city  streets,  and  well  we  may  be ;  but 
up  to  this  day  a  larger  number  of  men  and 
women  have  concerned  themselves  actively 
about  sweeping  them  of  dust  and  dirt  than 
of  sweeping  them  free  of  these  children.  ( If 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  225 

dirt  is  misplaced  matter,  then  what  do  you 
call  a  child  who  sits  eternally  on  the  curb 
stones  and  in  the  gutters  of  our  tenement- 
house  districts  ?y 

I  believe  that  since  the  great  Teacher  of 
humanity  spoke  those  simple  words  of  eter 
nal  tenderness  that  voiced  the  mother  side 
of  the  divine  nature,  —  "  Suffer  little  chil 
dren  to  come  unto  me,  and  forbid  them  not," 
—  I  believe  that  nothing  more  heartfelt, 
more  effectual,  has  come  ringing  down  to 
us  through  the  centuries  than  Froebel's  in 
spired  and  inspiring  call,  u  Come !  let  us 
live  with  the  children !  " 

This  work  pays,  in  the  best  and  the  high 
est  sense  as  well  as  the  most  practical. 

It  is  true,  the  kindergartner  has  the  child 
in  her  care  but  three  or  four  hours  a  day ; 
it  is  true,  in  most  instances,  that  the  home 
influences  are  all  against  her ;  it  is  true  that 
the  very  people  for  whom  she  is  working  do 
not  always  appreciate  her  efforts  ;  it  is  true 
that  in  many  cases  the  child  has  been  "  born 
wrong."  and  to  accomplish  any  radical  re 
form  she  ought  to  have  begun  with  his 
grandfather  ;  it  is  true  she  makes  failures 
now  and  then,  and  has  to  leave  the  sorry 
task  seemingly  unperformed,  giving  into  the 


226  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

mighty  hand  of  One  who  bringeth  order  out 
of  chaos  that  which  her  finite  strength  has 
failed  to  compass.  She  hears  discouraging 
words  sometimes,  but  they  do  not  make 
a  profound  impression,  when  she  sees  the 
weary  yet  beautiful  days  go  by,  bringing 
with  them  hourly  rewards  greater  than 
speech  can  testify ! 

She  sees  homes  changing  slowly  but  surely 
under  her  quiet  influence,  and  that  of  those 
home  missionaries,  the  children  themselves ; 
she  gets  love  in  full  measure  where  she  least 
expected  so  radiant  a  flower  to  bloom ;  she 
receives  gratitude  from  some  parents  far  be 
yond  what  she  is  conscious  of  deserving ;  she 
sees  the  ancient  and  respectable  dirt-devil 
being  driven  from  many  of  the  homes  where 
he  has  reigned  supreme  for  years  ;  she  sees 
brutal  punishments  giving  place  to  sweeter 
methods  and  kinder  treatment ;  and  she  is 
too  happy  and  too  grateful,  for  these  and 
more  encouragements,  to  be  disheartened  by 
any  cynical  dissertations* on  the  determina 
tion  of  the  world  to  go  wrong  and  the  im 
possibility  of  preventing  it. 

It  is  easier,  in  my  opinion,  to  raise  money 
for,  and  interest  the  general  man  or  woman 
in,  the  free  kindergarten  than  in  any  other 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  227 

single  charity.  It  is  always  comparatively 
easy  to  convince  people  of  a  truth,  but  it 
is  much  easier  to  convince  them  of  some 
truths  than  of  others.  If  you  wish  to  found 
a  library,  build  a  hospital,  establish  a  diet- 
kitchen,  open  a  bureau  for  woman's  work, 
you  are  obliged  to  argue  more  or  less  ;  but 
if  you  want  money  for  neglected  children, 
you  have  generally  only  to  state  the  case. 
Everybody  agrees  in  the  obvious  proposi 
tions,  "  An  ounce  of  prevention  "  —  "  As 
the  twig  is  bent "  —  "  The  child  is  father  to 
the  man"  — "Train  up  a  child"  —  "A 
stitch  in  time  "  — "  Prevention  is  better 
than  cure  "  —  "  Where  the  lambs  go  the 
flocks  will  follow  "  —  u  It  is  easier  to  form 
than  to  reform,"  and  so  on  ad  infinitum  — 
proverbs  multiply.  The  advantages  of  pre 
ventive  work  are  so  palpable  that  as  soon  as 
you  broach  the  matter  you  ought  to  find 
your  case  proved  and  judgment  awarded 
to  the  plaintiff,  before  you  open  your  lips  to 
plead. 

The  whole  matter  is  crystal  clear ;  for 
happily,  where  the  protection  of  children  is 
concerned,  there  is  not  any  free-trade  side 
to  the  argument.  We  need  the  public  kin 
dergarten  educationally  as  the  vestibule  to 


228  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

our  school  work.  We  need  it  as  a  philan 
thropic  agent,  leading  the  child  gently  into 
right  habits  of  thought,  speech,  and  action 
from  the  beginning.  We  need  it  to  help  in 
the  absorption  and  amalgamation  of  our 
foreign  element ;  for  the  social  training,  the 
opportunity  for  cooperation,  and  the  purely 
republican  form  of  government  in  the  kin 
dergarten  make  it  of  great  value  in  the  de 
velopment  of  the  citizen-virtues,  as  well  as 
those  of  the  individual. 

I  cannot  help  thinking  that  if  this  side  of 
Froebel's  educational  idea  were  more  in 
sisted  on  throughout  cur  common  school 
system,  we  should  be  making  better  citizens 
and  no  worse  scholars. 

If  we  believe  in  the  kindergarten,  if  we 
wish  it  to  become  a  part  of  our  educational 
system,  we  have  only  to  let  that  belief  — 
that  desire  —  crystallize  into  action  ;  but 
we  must  not  leave  it  for  somebody  else  to 
do. 

It  is  clearly  every  mother's  business  and 
father's  business,  —  spinsters  and  bachelors 
are  not  exempt,  for  they  know  not  in  what 
hour  they  may  be  snatched  from  sweet  lib 
erty,  and  delivered  into  sweeter  slavery.  It 
is  a  lawyer's  business,  for  though  it  will 


CHILDREN"*   RIGHT*  229 

make  the  world  better,  it  will  not  do  it  soon 
enough  to  lessen  litigation  in  his  time.  It 
is  surely  the  doctor's  business,  and  the  min 
ister's,  and  that  of  the  business  man.  It  is 
in  fact  everybody's  business. 

The  beauty  of  this  kindergarten  subject 
is  its  kaleidoscopic  character ;  it  presents, 
like  all  truth,  so  many  sides  that  you  can 
give  every  one  that  which  he  likes  or  is 
fitted  to  receive.  Take  the  aggressively 
self-made  man  who  thinks  our  general 
scheme  of  education  unprofitable,  —  show 
him  the  kindergarten  plan  of  manual  train 
ing,  lie  rubs  his  hands.  "  Ah  !  that 's  com 
mon  sense,"  he  says.  "  I  don't  believe  in 
your  colleges  —  I  never  went  to  college  ; 
you  may  count  on  me." 

Give  the  man  of  aesthetic  taste  an  idea  of 
what  the  kindergarten  does  in  developing 
the  sense  of  beauty ;  show  him  in  what  way 
it  is  a  primary  art  school. 

Explain  to  the  musician  your  feeling 
about  the  influence  of  music ;  show  the  phy 
sical-culture  people  that  in  the  kindergarten 
the  body  has  an  equal  chance  with  mind  and 
heart. 

Tell  the  great-hearted  man  some  sad  inci 
dent  related  to  you  by  one  of  your  kinder- 


230  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

gartners,  and  as  soon  as  he  can  see  through 
his  tears,  show  him  your  subscription  book. 

Give  the  woman  who  cannot  reason  (and 
there  are  such)  an  opportunity  to  feel. 
There  is  more  than  one  way  of  imbibing 
truth,  fortunately,  and  the  brain  is  not  the 
only  avenue  to  knowledge. 

Finally,  take  the  utter  skeptic  into  the 
kindergarten  and  let  the  children  convert 
him.  It  commonly  is  a  "  him  "  by  the  way. 
The  mother-heart  of  the  universe  is  generally 
sound  on  this  subject. 

But  getting  money  and  opening  kinder 
gartens  are  not  the  only  cares  of  a  Kinder 
garten  Association.  At  least  there  are  other 
grave  responsibilities  which  no  other  organi 
zation  is  so  well  fitted  to  assume.  These  are 
the  persistent  working  upon  school  boards 
until  they  adopt  the  kindergarten,  and, 
much  more  delicate  and  difficult,  the  protec 
tion  of  its  interests  after  it  is  adopted ;  the 
opening  of  kindergartens  in  orphanages  and 
refuges  where  they  prove  the  most  blessed 
instrumentality  for  good;  the  spreading  of 
such  clear  knowledge  and  intelligent  in 
sight  into  the  kindergarten  as  shall  pre 
vent  it  from  deterioration ;  the  insistence 
upon  kindergartners  properly  trained  by 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  231 

properly  qualified  training  teachers ;  'the 
gentle  mothering  and  inspiring  and  helping 
those  kindergartners  to  realize  their  fair 
idi-uls  (for  Froebel's  method  is  a  growing 
thing,  and  she  who  does  not  grow  with  it  is 
a  hopeless  failure)  ;  the  proper  equipment 
and  furnishing  of  class-rooms  so  that  the 
public  may  have  good  object-lessons  before 
its  eyes  ;  the  insistence  upon  the  ultimate 
ideals  of  the  method  as  well  as  upon  details 
and  technicalities,  —  that  is,  showing  people 
its  soul  instead  of  forever  rattling  its  dry 
bones.  And  when  all  is  said  and  done,  the 
heaviest  of  the  work  falls  upon  the  kinder- 
gartner.  That  is  why  I  am  convinced  that 
we  should  do  everything  that  sympathy  and 
honor  and  money  can  do  to  exalt  the  office, 
so  that  women  of  birth,  breeding,  culture, 
and  genius  shall  gravitate  to  it.  The  kin- 
dergartner  it  is  who,  living  with  the  chil 
dren,  can  make  her  work  an  integral  part  of 
the  neighborhood,  the  centre  of  its  best  life. 
She  it  is,  often,  who  must  hold  husband  to 
wife,  and  parent  to  child  ;  she  it  is  after  all 
who  must  interpret  the  aims  of  the  Asso 
ciation,  and  translate  its  noble  theories 
into  practice.  (Ay  !  and  there 's  the  rub.) 
She  it  is,  who  must  harmonize  great  ideal 


232  CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS 

principles  with  real  and  sometimes  sorry 
conditions.  A  Kindergarten  Association 
stands  for  certain  things  before  the  com 
munity.  It  is  the  kindergartner  alone  who 
can  prove  the  truth,  who  can  substanti 
ate  the  argument,  who  can  show  the  facts. 
There  is  no  more  difficult  vocation  in  the 
universe,  and  no  more  honorable  or  sacred 
one.  If  a  kindergartner  is  looked  upon,  or 
paid,  or  treated  as  a  nursery  maid,  her  ranks 
will  gradually  be  recruited  from  that  source. 
The  ideal  teacher  of  little  children  is  not 
born.  We  have  to  struggle  on  as  best  we 
can,  without  her.  She  would  be  born  if  we 
knew  how  to  conceive  her,  how  to  cherish 
her.  She  needs  the  strength  of  Vulcan  and 
the  delicacy  of  Ariel ;  she  needs  a  child's 
heart,  a  woman's  heart,  a  mother's  heart,  in 
one  ;  she  needs  clear  judgment  and  ready 
sympathy,  strength  of  will,  equal  elasticity, 
keen  insight,  oversight ;  the  buoyancy  of 
hope,  the  serenity  of  faith,  the  tenderness  of 
patience.  u  The  hope  of  the  world  lies  in 
the  children."  When  we  are  better  mo 
thers,  when  men  are  better  fathers,  there  will 
be  better  children  and  a  better  world.  The 
sooner  we  feel  the  value  of  beginnings,  the 
sooner  we  realize  that  we  can  put  bunglers 


CHILDREN'S   RIGHTS  233 

and  botchers  anywhere  else  better  than 
in  nursery,  kindergarten,  or  primary  school 
(there  are  no  three  places  in  the  universe 
so  "  big  with  Fate  "  ),  the  sooner  we  shall 
arrive  at  better  results. 

I  am  afraid  it  is  chiefly  women's  work. 
Of  course  men  can  be  useful  in  many  little 
ways  ;  such  as  giving  money  and  getting 
other  people  to  give  it,  in  influencing  legis 
lation,  interviewing  school  boards,  securing 
buildings,  presiding  over  meetings,  and  giv 
ing  a  general  air  of  strength  and  solidity  to 
the  undertaking.  But  the  chief  plotting  and 
planning  and  working  out  of  details  must 
be  done  by  women.  The  male  genius  of  hu 
manity  begets  the  ideas  of  which  each  cen 
tury  has  need  (at  least  it  is  so  said,  and 
I  have  never  had,  the  courage  to  deny  it  or 
the  time  to  look  it  up)  ;  but  the  female  gen 
ius,  I  am  sure,  has  to  work  them  out,  and 
"  to  help  is  to  do  the  work  of  the  world." 

If  one  can  give  money,  if  only  a  single 
subscription,  let  her  give  it ;  if  she  can  give 
time,  let  her  give  that ;  if  she  has  no  time 
for  absolute  work,  perhaps  she  has  time  for 
the  right  word  spoken  in  due  season  ;  failing 
all  else,  there  is  no  woman  alive,  wrorthy  the 
name,  who  cannot  give  a  generous  heart- 


234  CHILDREN'S  EIGHTS 

throb,  a  warm  hand-clasp,  a  sunny,  helpful 
smile,  a  ready  tear,  to  a  cause  that  concerns 
itself  with  childhood,  as  a  thank-offering 
for  her  own  children,  a  pledge  for  those  the 
hidden  future  may  bring  her,  or  a  consola 
tion  for  empty  arms. 

There  is  always  time  to  do  the  thing  that 
ought  to  be,  that  must  be  done,  and  for  that 
matter  who  shall  fix  the  limit  to  our  powers 
of  helpfulness  ?  It  is  the  unused  pump  that 
wheezes.  If  our  bounty  be  dry,  cross,  and 
reluctant,  it  is  because  we  do  not  continually 
summon  and  draw  it  out.  But  if,  like  the 
patriarch  Jacob's,  our  well  is  deep,  it  cannot 
be  exhausted.  While  we  draw  upon  it,  it 
draws  upon  the  unspent  springs,  the  hill 
sides,  the  clouds,  the  air,  and  the  sea  ;  and 
the  great  source  of  power  must  itself  sus 
pend  and  be  bankrupt  before  ours  can  fail. 

The  kindergarten  is  not  for  the  poor  child 
alone,  a  charity ;  neither  is  it  for  the  rich 
child  alone,  a  luxury,  corrective,  or  antidote  ; 
but  the  ideas  of  which  it  tries  to  be  the 
expression  are  the  proper  atmosphere  for 
every  child. 

It  is  a  promise  of  health,  happiness,  and 
usefulness  to  many  an  unfortunate  little  waif, 
whose  earthly  inheritance  is  utter  blackness, 


CHILDREN'S  RIGHTS  235 

and  whose  moral  blight  can  be  outgrown  and 
succeeded  by  a  development  of  intelligence 
and  love  of  virtue. 

The  child  of  poverty  and  vice  has  still 
within  him,  however  overlaid  by  the  sins  of 
ancestry,  a  germ  of  good  that  is  capable  of 
growth,  if  reached  in  time.  Let  us  stretch 
out  a  tender  strong  hand,  and  touching  that 
poor  germ  of  good  lifting  its  feeble  head 
in  a  wilderness  of  evil,  help  it  to  live  and 
thrive  and  grow  ! 


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